Missouri River near Osage River — John Ordway: June 4, 1804
While Ordway was steering the boat near shore, its mast caught in a sycamore limb and broke easily. The party passed a creek on the south side, about 15 yards wide, which they named Nightingale Creek after a bird that sang through the previous night—the first they had heard on the river. They also passed Cedar Creek and another creek, noting fine rising land with oak, ash, black walnut, and hickory timber. They camped on the south side at the lead mines, where hunters killed eight deer that were jerked that evening.
mast broke by my Stearing the Boat near the Shore the Rope
or Stay to her mast got fast in a limb of a Secamore tree & it
broke verry Easy.4 passed a Creek on the South Side about 15
yd8 wide which we name nightingale Creek, this Bird Sung all
last night & is the first we heard below on the River5 we passed
1 “passed a cove where there were high cliffs on the north side opposite an
island, called Mombran’s tavern.” Gass’s Journal of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition (Hosmer’s ed., Chicago, 1904), 1 b>. The footnote references to
Gass throughout the present volume are to the Hosmer edition.
2 The Osage River, 500 miles in length, rises in Kansas and flows east and
northeast to its junction with the Missouri. It is the most important southern
tributary Of the Missouri below the Kansas River.
1 Moreau Creek, which empties into the Missouri five miles below Jefferson City.
•To commemorate this event the parly named a near-by stream from the
south Mast Creek. The name has disappeared from modern charts, however.
and Cones thinks the stream “not identifiable with certainly. ”
‘ According to Cones (I, 11) no speries of the true nightingale is found in
North America: the “Virginia nightingale,” s.> called, is the cardinal redbird,
1804] SERGEANT ORDWAY’S JOURNAL 83
Seeder Creek1 on S Side line [fine] land above & below the
Creek Rising land, Delightfull Timber of oak ash, Black walnut
hickery &C. &C. passed a Creek called on canon2 the S Side we
encamped on S Side of the River at the Lead mines3 our hunt-
ers killed 8 Deers it was Jerked this evening &.C.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
The mast broke when I was steering the boat near the shore. The rope or stay to her mast got caught in a limb of a sycamore tree, and it broke very easily. We passed a creek on the south side about 15 yards wide, which we named Nightingale Creek. This bird sang all last night, and it is the first one we heard below on the river.
We passed Cedar Creek on the south side. There is fine land above and below the creek, with rising land and delightful timber of oak, ash, black walnut, hickory, etc., etc. We passed a creek called Cannon (Canon) on the south side. We camped on the south side of the river at the lead mines. Our hunters killed 8 deer, which was jerked this evening, etc.
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