Missouri River near Yellowstone approach — John Ordway: April 22, 1805
The party traveled only about 10 miles, slowed by high winds and a two-hour delay. They passed bluffs and bottoms teeming with wildlife, sighting nearly a thousand buffalo, elk, and deer at once, the animals unusually tame. They helped a stranded buffalo calf up a riverbank and noted many drowned buffalo along the shores, likely lost crossing thin ice the previous fall. After a white frost and a four-inch rise in the river, they camped in a cottonwood bottom where Captain Clark and Drouillard each shot a beaver.
passed a high bluff on S. S. and a handsom bottom and plains
on the N. S. which was covered with buffaloe & buffaloe calfs,
Elk deer &.C. and large gangs on the opposite Shore I think
that we Saw at one view nearly one thousand animels. they are
not to day verry wild for we could go within a 100 yards of them
in open view of them before they would run off and then they
would go but a Short distance before they would Stop and feed
again, We delayed about 2 hours & proceeded on. passed bluffs
on N. S. where we dined & delayed again on ace* of the high
wind, aired Some articles which got wet in a small canoe
proceeded on with the towing lines. Saw a buffaloe Calf which
had fell down the bank & could not git up again, we helped it
up the bank and it followed us a Short distance (the river raised
4 Inches last [night] & a white frost) we have seen a great nom-
ber of dead buffaloe lying on each shore all the way from the
little Missourie R. we Suppose that they Got drownded attempt-
ing to cross on the Ice last fall before it got Strong, we Camped in
a bottom covered with c.w. timber & rabbit berry bushes on the
S. S.2 the beaver has cut down large trees along this bottom.
Saw a great nomber of their houses. Cap* Clark. Shot a large
one. G. Drewyer went after dark to set his traps & Shot an-
other. N. B. Came only 10 miles today) one man found [and]
killd a spoted snake.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
We passed a high bluff on the south side and a handsome bottom and plains on the north side, which was covered with buffalo and buffalo calves, elk, deer, etc., and large herds on the opposite shore. I think that we saw at one view nearly one thousand animals. They are not very wild today, for we could go within 100 yards of them in open view before they would run off, and then they would go but a short distance before they would stop and feed again. We delayed about 2 hours and proceeded on.
We passed bluffs on the north side where we dined, and delayed again on account of the high wind. We aired some articles which got wet in a small canoe, then proceeded on with the towing lines. We saw a buffalo calf which had fallen down the bank and could not get up again. We helped it up the bank and it followed us a short distance. (The river raised 4 inches last night, and there was a white frost.) We have seen a great number of dead buffalo lying on each shore all the way from the little Missouri River. We suppose that they got drowned attempting to cross on the ice last fall before it got strong.
We camped in a bottom covered with cottonwood timber and rabbit berry bushes on the south side. The beaver has cut down large trees along this bottom. We saw a great number of their houses. Capt Clark (Capt. Clark) shot a large one. G. Drewyer (G. Drouillard) went after dark to set his traps and shot another. N.B. Came only 10 miles today. One man found and killed a spotted snake.
This modernization is AI-generated for accessibility. The original above is the authoritative version.
Entities mentioned in this entry
Auto-extracted from the entry text. Hover any entity for context.
