Missouri River near Cheyenne River — John Ordway: October 1, 1804
Sailing east on a breeze, the party passed an island and an abandoned Arikara village before reaching the mouth of the Cheyenne (Dog) River, navigating sandbars there with difficulty. Strong winds made finding the channel hard, forcing them to drag the boat through shallow water. They stopped for breakfast, then dinner at a river bend, and made 14 miles before camping on a sandbar. A young Frenchman working for trader Valle hailed them from shore and crossed over by pirogue to visit.
Breeze from E. Sailed on verry well past an Island, passed an
old village of the Rick Rees nation on S. S. passed the Mouth of
a large River on the South Side called ashea or dog River,2 which
1 In Sully County, five miles below I lie mouth of Cheyenne River.
2 “Chien or Dog river.” Clark. It is (lie modem Cheyenne, which drains
the Black Hills and Hows in an easterly direction to its junction with the Mis-
1804] SERGEANT ORDWAY’S JOURNAL 145
is about [blank in Ms.] yards wide a Great nomber of Sand bars
at & near the Mouth (we had some difficulty to pass) Some Scat-
tering Timber on the Bottoms about the mouth of this River,
passed a bottom on N. S. Some thin timber near the River on
sd Bottoms. Barren hills back from the River on boath Sides, &
little or no Timber back from the River except on creeks &
Streams, this Side of the River Platte The wind blew so hard
that it was difficult to find the channel, we halted about 9
oClock [and] took breakfast dilayed about 2 hours then dragged
our Boat over a verry Shallow channel, hoisted Sail [and] pro-
ceeded on to a bend in the river at 2 oG. where the wind came a
head, took dinner, then proceeded on passed a Bottom cov-
ered with Small Timber on N. S. a cool day. came 14 miles &
Camped on a large Sand beach N. S.1 we saw a man on the
South Shore he called to us in french. Some of our frenchman
answered him & knew him, found he wished to See us. we de-
sired him to come he came in a pearogue over to us. it was a
young french man who lived with Mr Valley a trader from little boat.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Breeze from the east. Sailed on very well past an island, passed an old village of the Rick Rees (Arikara) nation on the south side, passed the mouth of a large river on the south side called Ashea or Dog River, which is about [blank in Ms.] yards wide. A great number of sandbars at and near the mouth (we had some difficulty to pass). Some scattered timber on the bottoms about the mouth of this river. Passed a bottom on the north side with some thin timber near the river on said bottoms. Barren hills back from the river on both sides, and little or no timber back from the river except on creeks and streams this side of the River Platte.
The wind blew so hard that it was difficult to find the channel. We halted about 9 o'clock and took breakfast, delayed about 2 hours, then dragged our boat over a very shallow channel, hoisted sail, and proceeded on to a bend in the river at 2 o'clock, where the wind came ahead. Took dinner, then proceeded on. Passed a bottom covered with small timber on the north side. A cool day. Came 14 miles and camped on a large sand beach on the north side.
We saw a man on the south shore. He called to us in French. Some of our Frenchmen answered him and knew him, and found he wished to see us. We invited him to come, and he came over to us in a pirogue. It was a young Frenchman who lived with Mr. Valley, a trader from a little boat.
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