Clark: October 24, 1805

October 24th, Thursday 1805. A fine morning. The Indians approached us with caution. Our two old Chiefs determined to return home, saying they were at war with the Indians below and that those Indians would kill them. We persuaded them to stay two nights longer with us, with the view of making peace with those Indians below as well as having them with us during our delay with this tribe. Capt Lewis (Capt. Lewis) went to view the falls. I set out with the party at 9 o'clock a.m. At 2½ miles we passed a rock that juts out from the starboard side, with 4 lodges above it and 1 below, and confined the river in a narrow channel of about 45 yards. This continued for about ¼ of a mile, then widened to about 200 yards. In those narrows the water was agitated in a most shocking manner — boils, swells, and whirlpools. We passed with great risk, it being impossible to make a portage of the canoes. About 2 miles lower we passed a very bad place between 2 rocks, one large and in the middle of the river. Here our canoes took in some water. I put all the men who could not swim on shore, and sent a few articles such as guns and papers, and landed at a village of 20 houses on the starboard side in a deep basin where the river appeared to be blocked up with immense rocks. I walked down and examined the pass, found it narrow, and one very bad place a little within the narrows. I followed this channel, which is from 50 to 100 yards wide and swells and boils in a most tremendous manner. I followed this channel 5 miles and returned, and found Capt Lewis and a Chief from below with many of his men on a visit to us. One of our party, Pete Crusat (Pierre Cruzatte), played on the violin, which pleased the natives, and the men danced. Great numbers of sea otter and polecats are about these fisheries. The houses of these Indians are 20 feet square and sunk 8 feet underground and covered with bark, with a small door rounded at the top, raised about 18 inches above ground to keep out the snow. I saw 107 parcels of fish stacked, and great quantities in the houses.

October 24th, Thursday 1805. The morning was fair after a beautiful night. The natives approached us this morning with great caution. Our two old chiefs expressed a desire to return to their band from this place, saying "that they could be of no further service to us, as their nation extended no further down the river than these falls, and as the nation below had expressed hostile intentions against us, would certainly kill them, particularly as they had been at war with each other." We requested them to stay with us two nights longer, and we would see the nation below and make a peace between them. They replied they "were anxious to return and see our horses." We insisted on their staying with us two nights longer, to which they agreed. Our intent was to detain those Chiefs with us until we should pass the next falls, which we were told was very bad and at no great distance below, so that they might inform us of any designs of the natives, and if possible bring about a peace between them and the tribes below.

The first pitch of these falls is 20 feet perpendicular, then passing through a narrow channel for 1 mile to a rapid of about 18 feet fall, below which the water has no perceptible fall but is very rapid. See Sketch No. 1. It may be proper here to remark that, due to some obstruction below — the cause of which we have not yet learned — the water in high floods (which are in the spring) rises below these falls nearly to a level with the water above the falls; the marks of which can be plainly traced around the falls. At that stage of the water the salmon must pass up, and they abound in such great numbers above. Below these falls are salmon trout and great numbers of the heads of a species of trout smaller than the salmon. These fish they catch out of the salmon season, and they are at this time in the act of burying those which they had dried for winter food. The mode of burying these fish is in holes of various sizes, lined with straw, on which they lay fish skins in which they enclose the fish, which is laid very close, and then covered with earth about 12 or 15 inches thick. Capt Lewis (Capt. Lewis) and three men crossed the river to the opposite side to view the falls, of which he had not yet taken a full view.

At 9 o'clock a.m. I set out with the party and proceeded down a rapid stream of about 400 yards wide. At 2½ miles the river widened into a large basin to the starboard side, on which there are five lodges of Indians. Here a tremendous black rock presented itself, high and steep, appearing to choke up the river. Nor could I see where the water passed, except that the current was drawn with great velocity to the larboard side of this rock, where I heard a great roaring. I landed at the lodges, and the natives went with me to the top of this rock, which juts from the starboard side. From the top I could see the difficulties we had to pass for several miles below. At this place the water of this great river is compressed into a channel between two rocks not exceeding forty-five yards wide, and continues for ¼ of a mile, when it again widens to 200 yards and continues this width for about 2 miles, when it is again intercepted by rocks. This obstruction in the river accounts for the water in high floods rising to such a height at the last falls. The whole of the current of this great river must at all stages pass through this narrow channel of 45 yards wide. As the portage of our canoes over this high rock would be impossible with our strength, and the only danger in passing through these narrows was the whirls and swells arising from the compression of the water, which I thought (as also our principal waterman Peter Crusat (Pierre Cruzatte)) we could pass down safely by good steering, accordingly I determined to pass through this place, notwithstanding the horrid appearance of this agitated gut, swelling, boiling, and whirling in every direction (which from the top of the rock did not appear as bad as when I was in it). However, we passed safely, to the astonishment of all the Indians of the last lodges, who watched us from the top of the rock. We passed one lodge below this rock and halted on the starboard side to view a very bad place, the current divided by 2 islands of rocks, the lower of them large and in the middle of the river. This place being very bad, I sent by land all the men who could not swim, along with such articles as were most valuable to us — papers, guns, and ammunition — and proceeded down with the canoes, two at a time, to a village of 20 wooden houses in a deep bend on the starboard side. Below it a rugged black rock, about 20 feet higher than the common high floods of the river, with several dry channels, appeared to choke the river quite across. This I took to be the 2nd falls, or the place the natives above call Timm. The natives of this village received me very kindly. One of them invited me into his house, which I found to be large and commodious, and the first wooden houses in which Indians have lived since we left those in the vicinity of the Illinois. They are scattered without order in an elevated situation near a mound of about 30 feet above the common level, which mound has some remains of houses and has every appearance of being artificial. These houses are about the same shape, size, and form — 20 feet wide and 30 feet long, with one door raised 18 inches above the ground. The doors are 29½ inches high and 14 wide, forming a half circle above. These houses were sunk into the earth six feet. The roofs were supported by a ridge pole resting on three strong pieces of split timber, through one of which the door was cut. That, and the walls — the top of which was just above ground — supported a number of spars which are covered with the bark of the white cedar, or Arbor Vitae, and the whole attached and secured by the fibers of the cedar. The eaves are at or near the earth. The gable ends and side walls are secured with split boards, which are supported on the inner side with strong pieces of timber under the eaves, etc., to keep those pieces erect and the earth from outside pressing in the boards, supported by strong posts at the corners to which those poles were attached to give additional strength. Small openings were left above the ground, for the purpose, as I conjectured, of discharging their arrows at a besieging enemy. Light is admitted through an opening at the top, which also serves for the smoke to pass through. One half of these houses is set aside for storing dried and pounded fish, which is the principal food. The other part next to the door is occupied by the natives, who have beds raised on either side, with a fireplace in the center of this space. Each house appeared to be occupied by about three families. That part appropriated for fish was crowded with that article, and a few baskets of berries.

I dispatched a sufficient number of the good swimmers back for the 2 canoes above the last rapid, and with 2 men walked down three miles to examine the river over a bed of rocks, which the water at very high floods passes over. On those rocks I saw several large scaffolds on which the Indians dry fish. As this is out of season, the poles on which they dry the fish are tied up very securely in large bundles and put upon the scaffolds. I counted 107 stacks of dried pounded fish in different places on those rocks, which must have contained 10,000 pounds of net fish. The evening being late, I could not examine the river to my satisfaction. The channel is narrow and compressed for about 2 miles, when it widens into a deep basin to the starboard side, and again contracts into a narrow channel divided by a rock. I returned through a rocky open country infested with polecats to the village, where I met with Capt. Lewis, the two old Chiefs who accompanied us, and the party and canoes, who had all arrived safely, the canoes having taken in some water at the last rapids. Here we formed a camp near the village. The principal Chief from the nation below, with several of his men, visited us, and afforded a favorable opportunity of bringing about a peace and good understanding between this Chief and his people and the two Chiefs who accompanied us — which we have the satisfaction to say we have accomplished, as we have every reason to believe — and that those two bands or nations are and will be on the most friendly terms with each other. We gave this Great Chief a medal and some other articles, with which he was much pleased. Peter Crusat (Pierre Cruzatte) played on the violin and the men danced, which delighted the natives, who showed every civility towards us. We smoked with these people until late at night, when everyone retired to rest.