Jefferson/Beaverhead River near present-day Dillon — John Ordway: August 8, 1805

diew. 4 hunters sent out at light, we Set out at Sun rise and
proceeded on. passed beautiful praries on each side, but little
timber, only willows currents &. C. passed the left hand or
North fork has 2 mouths empties in at 2 places but is not as
large as the middle fork1 which we still take. Saw a little Snow
on the knobs back of this large and extensive valley, which is
Smooth level prarie. the 3 forks all comes in at this valley. Saw
wild Onions & golden rod. the prarie is covred with grass which
is high in places, the beaver abounds on these Rivers, they
have dams and ponds &. C. &. C. in different places, the Soil
of these praries is much better than it has been below for a long
distance, proceeded on passed a fine Spring on L. S. one of
the hunters brought us a deer which he had killed. Saw a nomber
of geese & ducks on the River, passed beautiful prarie on each
Side covred with high grass thissels Sun flowers Some clover and
different kinds of herbs &. C. at noon R. Fields who had been
hunting for Shannon returned to us. had not found him. had
killed a deer & a goat also, one other of the hunters came in had
killed a deer & a goat or antelope, the day warm, a verry pleas-
ant part of the country in this valley, which appears to be 10 or
12 miles wide all Smooth prarie except a fiew groves of cotton
trees willows & bushes beaver dams &. C. on the River, which is
verry crooked but not so rapid as below, and only about 25 yards
wide, and verry crooked the bends Short passed upwards of
1 The north fork was, of course, the Philanthropy, or modern Stinking Water
River. The middle fork, which the explorers regarded as the continuation
of Jefferson River, appears on modern maps as Beaver Head River.
262 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [Aug. 9
60 points this day. Came [blank in Ms.] miles1 & Camped in a
thicket of bushes on the L. S. the hunters came in with another Deer.