Clark: May 13, 1805
Strong winds delayed departure until 1 PM, after which the party traveled about nine miles before camping on the larboard side. The country resembled the previous day's, with little timber but immense herds of buffalo, elk, deer, wolves, and antelope. Hunters killed several deer, a buffalo cow and calf, and a notably white wolf. Six men attacked a large brown bear that charged them, forcing two into the river before it was finally killed. The white pirogue, steered by the nonswimmer Charbonneau, nearly capsized in a squall; Cruzatte's quick action saved it and the expedition's vital papers, instruments, and supplies. The men received a gill of spirits.
13th of May Monday 1805 The wind Continued to blow hard untill one oClock
P M. to day at which time it fell a little and we Set out and proceeded on
verry well about 9 miles and Camped on the Lard Side. the countrey much
the Same appearance as yesterday but little timber in the bottoms; Some
Pine in places on the Stard. Hills. I killed two deer this evening one a
mule deer & the other a common Deer, the party killed Several this
morning all for the use of their Skins which are now good, one man Gibson
wounded a verry large brown bear, too late this evening to prosue him- We
passed two Creeks in a bend to the Lard Side neither them had any water,
are somewhat wider; passed some high black bluffs. saw immence herds of
buffaloe today also Elk deer wolves and Antelopes. passed three large
creeks one on the Stard. and two others on the Lard. side, neither of
which had any runing water. Capt Clark walked on shore and killed a very
fine buffaloe cow. I felt an inclination to eat some veal and walked on
shore and killed a very fine buffaloe calf and a large woolf, much the
whitest I had seen, it was quite as white as the wool of the common sheep.
one of the party wounded a brown bear very badly, but being alone did not
think proper to pursue him. In the evening the men in two of the rear
canoes discovered a large brown bear lying in the open grounds about 300
paces from the river, and six of them went out to attack him, all good
hunters; they took the advantage of a small eminence which concealed them
and got within 40 paces of him unperceived, two of them reserved their
fires as had been previously conscerted, the four others fired nearly at
the same time and put each his bullet through him, two of the balls passed
through the bulk of both lobes of his lungs, in an instant this monster
ran at them with open mouth, the two who had reserved their fires
discharged their pieces at him as he came towards them, boath of them
struck him, one only slightly and the other fortunately broke his
shoulder, this however only retarded his motion for a moment only, the men
unable to reload their guns took to flight, the bear pursued and had very
nearly overtaken them before they reached the river; two of the party
betook themselves to a canoe and the others seperated an concealed
themselves among the willows, reloaded their pieces, each discharged his
piece at him as they had an opportunity they struck him several times
again but the guns served only to direct the bear to them, in this manner
he pursued two of them seperately so close that they were obliged to throw
aside their guns and pouches and throw themselves into the river altho the
bank was nearly twenty feet perpendicular; so enraged was this anamal that
he plunged into the river only a few feet behind the second man he had
compelled take refuge in the water, when one of those who still remained
on shore shot him through the head and finally killed him; they then took
him on shore and butched him when they found eight balls had passed
through him in different directions; the bear being old the flesh was
indifferent, they therefore only took the skin and fleece, the latter made
us several gallons of oil; it was after the sun had set before these men
come up with us, where we had been halted by an occurrence, which I have
now to recappitulate, and which altho happily passed without ruinous
injury, I cannot recollect but with the utmost trepidation and horror;
this is the upseting and narrow escape of the white perogue It happened
unfortunately for us this evening that Charbono was at the helm of this
Perogue, in stead of Drewyer, who had previously steered her; Charbono
cannot swim and is perhaps the most timid waterman in the world; perhaps
it was equally unluckey that Capt. C. and myself were both on shore at
that moment, a circumstance which rarely happened; and tho we were on the
shore opposite to the perogue, were too far distant to be heard or to do
more than remain spectators of her fate; in this perogue ____ were
embarked, our papers, Instruments, books medicine, a great part of our
merchandize and in short almost every article indispensibly necessary to
further the views, or insure the success of the enterprize in which we are
now launched to the distance of 2200 miles. surfice it to say, that the
Perogue was under sail when a sudon squawl of wind struck her obliquely,
and turned her considerably, the steersman allarmed, in stead of puting
her before the wind, lufted her up into it, the wind was so violent that
it drew the brace of the squarsail out of the hand of the man who was
attending it, and instantly upset the perogue and would have turned her
completely topsaturva, had it not have been from the resistance mad by the
oarning against the water; in this situation Capt. C and myself both fired
our guns to attract the attention if possible of the crew and ordered the
halyards to be cut and the sail hawled in, but they did not hear us; such
was their confusion and consternation at this moment, that they suffered
the perogue to lye on her side for half a minute before they took the sail
in, the perogue then wrighted but had filled within an inch of the
gunwals; Charbono still crying to his god for mercy, had not yet
recollected the rudder, nor could the repeated orders of the Bowsman,
Cruzat, bring him to his recollection untill he threatend to shoot him
instantly if he did not take hold of the rudder and do his duty, the waves
by this time were runing very high, but the fortitude resolution and good
conduct of Cruzat saved her; he ordered 2 of the men to throw out the
water with some kettles that fortunately were convenient, while himself
and two others rowed her ashore, where she arrived scarcely above the
water; we now took every article out of her and lay them to drane as well
as we could for the evening, baled out the canoe and secured her; there
were two other men beside Charbono on board who could not swim, and who of
course must also have perished had the perogue gone to the bottom. while
the perogue lay on her side, finding I could not be heard, I for a moment
forgot my own situation, and involluntarily droped my gun, threw aside my
shot pouch and was in the act of unbuttoning my coat, before I recollected
the folly of the attempt I was about to make, which was to throw myself
into the river and indevour to swim to the perogue; the perogue was three
hundred yards distant the waves so high that a perogue could scarcely live
in any situation, the water excessively could, and the stream rappid; had
I undertaken this project therefore, there was a hundred to one but what I
should have paid the forfit of my life for the madness of my project, but
this had the perogue been lost, I should have valued but little.After
having all matters arranged for the evening as well as the nature of
circumstances would permit, we thought it a proper occasion to console
ourselves and cheer the sperits of our men and accordingly took a drink of
grog and gave each man a gill of sperits.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
13th of May, Monday 1805. The wind continued to blow hard until one o'clock P.M. today, at which time it dropped a little and we set out and proceeded on very well about 9 miles and camped on the Larboard Side. The country has much the same appearance as yesterday, with little timber in the bottoms; some pine in places on the Starboard Hills. I killed two deer this evening, one a mule deer and the other a common deer. The party killed several this morning, all for the use of their skins, which are now good. One man, Gibson, wounded a very large brown bear, but it was too late this evening to pursue him. We passed two creeks in a bend on the Larboard Side; neither of them had any water, though they are somewhat wider. We passed some high black bluffs. Saw immense herds of buffalo today, also elk, deer, wolves, and antelopes. Passed three large creeks, one on the Starboard and two others on the Larboard side, neither of which had any running water.
Capt Clark (Capt. Clark) walked on shore and killed a very fine buffalo cow. I felt an inclination to eat some veal and walked on shore and killed a very fine buffalo calf and a large wolf, much the whitest I had seen; it was quite as white as the wool of the common sheep. One of the party wounded a brown bear very badly, but being alone did not think it proper to pursue him.
In the evening, the men in two of the rear canoes discovered a large brown bear lying in the open grounds about 300 paces from the river, and six of them went out to attack him, all good hunters. They took advantage of a small rise that concealed them and got within 40 paces of him unperceived. Two of them held their fire as had been previously agreed; the four others fired nearly at the same time and each put his bullet through him, two of the balls passing through both lobes of his lungs. In an instant this monster ran at them with open mouth. The two who had reserved their fires discharged their pieces at him as he came toward them; both of them struck him, one only slightly and the other fortunately broke his shoulder. This, however, only delayed his motion for a moment. The men, unable to reload their guns, took to flight; the bear pursued and had very nearly overtaken them before they reached the river. Two of the party got into a canoe, and the others separated and concealed themselves among the willows, reloaded their pieces, and each discharged his piece at him as they had the chance. They struck him several more times, but the guns served only to direct the bear to them. In this manner he pursued two of them separately so closely that they were forced to throw aside their guns and pouches and throw themselves into the river, although the bank was nearly twenty feet straight down. So enraged was this animal that he plunged into the river only a few feet behind the second man he had compelled to take refuge in the water, when one of those who still remained on shore shot him through the head and finally killed him. They then took him on shore and butchered him, when they found eight balls had passed through him in different directions. The bear being old, the flesh was poor, so they only took the skin and fat; the fat made us several gallons of oil. It was after sunset before these men came up with us, where we had been halted by an occurrence which I have now to recount, and which, although it happily passed without ruinous injury, I cannot recall except with the utmost dread and horror.
This is the upsetting and narrow escape of the white pirogue. It happened unfortunately for us this evening that Charbono (Charbonneau) was at the helm of this pirogue instead of Drewyer (Drouillard), who had previously steered her. Charbono cannot swim and is perhaps the most timid waterman in the world. Perhaps it was equally unlucky that Capt. C. and myself were both on shore at that moment, a circumstance which rarely happened; and though we were on the shore opposite the pirogue, we were too far distant to be heard or to do more than remain spectators of her fate. In this pirogue were embarked our papers, instruments, books, medicine, a great part of our merchandise, and in short almost every article indispensably necessary to further the views or ensure the success of the enterprise in which we are now launched to the distance of 2200 miles.
Suffice it to say that the pirogue was under sail when a sudden squall of wind struck her obliquely and turned her considerably. The steersman, alarmed, instead of putting her before the wind, luffed her up into it. The wind was so violent that it drew the brace of the square sail out of the hand of the man who was attending it, and instantly upset the pirogue and would have turned her completely upside down had it not been for the resistance made by the awning against the water. In this situation Capt. C. and myself both fired our guns to attract the attention of the crew if possible, and ordered the halyards to be cut and the sail hauled in, but they did not hear us. Such was their confusion and panic at this moment that they let the pirogue lie on her side for half a minute before they took the sail in. The pirogue then righted but had filled within an inch of the gunwales. Charbono, still crying to his God for mercy, had not yet remembered the rudder, nor could the repeated orders of the bowsman, Cruzat (Cruzatte), bring him to his senses, until Cruzatte threatened to shoot him instantly if he did not take hold of the rudder and do his duty. The waves by this time were running very high, but the fortitude, resolution, and good conduct of Cruzatte saved her. He ordered two of the men to throw out the water with some kettles that fortunately were on hand, while he himself and two others rowed her ashore, where she arrived scarcely above the water. We now took every article out of her and laid them to drain as well as we could for the evening, bailed out the canoe, and secured her. There were two other men besides Charbono on board who could not swim, and who of course must also have perished had the pirogue gone to the bottom.
While the pirogue lay on her side, finding I could not be heard, I for a moment forgot my own situation and involuntarily dropped my gun, threw aside my shot pouch, and was in the act of unbuttoning my coat before I remembered the folly of the attempt I was about to make, which was to throw myself into the river and try to swim to the pirogue. The pirogue was three hundred yards distant, the waves so high that a pirogue could scarcely survive in any situation, the water excessively cold, and the stream rapid. Had I undertaken this project, therefore, there was a hundred to one chance that I would have paid the forfeit of my life for the madness of my plan; but had the pirogue been lost, I should have valued my life but little.
After having all matters arranged for the evening as well as the circumstances would permit, we thought it a proper occasion to console ourselves and cheer the spirits of our men, and accordingly took a drink of grog and gave each man a gill of spirits.
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