Missouri River near Cheyenne River — John Ordway: October 6, 1804
The expedition traveled past black bluffs, hills, and plains with timber only in the river bottoms. Around 1 o'clock they stopped at an abandoned Arikara village on the south side for dinner, where hunters brought in a fat elk. The deserted village, abandoned the previous spring, featured tightly packed earth-covered houses. The men collected squashes, baskets, and examined buffalo-hide canoes capable of carrying two men and baggage. Captain Lewis and a hunter went hunting in a timbered bottom but returned empty-handed. The party camped on a large sandbar on the north side.
Black Bluffs on s. s. high land, hilley & plains on boath Sides of
the River no Timber only in the Bottoms on the River. passd a
Timbered Bottom on S. S. 2 men went out hunting — at 1 oClock
we halted at an old Rickree Village on S. S. [and] took dinner,
our hunters came to us had killed a fat Elk. we found at this
Village Some Squashes, the RickRee left it last Spring, their
village was built verry close compact & covered each Sepperate
house with Earth, we Saw Several canoes made of Buffalow
hides which would carry 2 men & considerable baggage, also
Some baskets we took Several of them & Some of the Squashes
&.C. &.C. we proceeded on Cap1 Lewis & one hunter went out
hunting on a handsome Bottom covered with Timber on N. S.
passed a creek on the South Side2 we Camped on a large Sand
to a practice to which Coues was addicted, not always with happy results.
I refer to his zeal for reconciling seeming discrepancies in the several journals
of the expedition, or (at times) between the different journals. Thus in the
present instance, supposing Clark’s White Brant Creek to be the White Goat
Creek of Gass, he assumes the latter to have made “a slip for White Goose.”
The recovery, since Coues’s time, of the journals of Whitehouse and Ordway
makes it clear that Gass wrote what he intended to write, and that White Goat
and White Brant are two different streams. Coues’s assumption was rendered
easier by the fact that while Clark speaks of killing the goats he does not say
they were white (only Ordway records this detail); on the other hand he speaks
twice of the white brants, of which no one of the other three journals left us
makes mention.
1 This agrees with Gass; but Whitehouse says on the south side, and Clark
“on a mud bar makeing from the S. S,” although the statement in his table of
distances, “to a pt. on the L. Side opposit a Willow Island Situated near the S.
Shore,” seems to contradict this.
2 “Beaver or Otter Creek.” Clark. All the journals agree in locating this
stream on the south side of the Missouri, yet the maps of both Lewis and Clark
represent it on the north, and this corresponds with the representation of mod-
148 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [Oct. 7
beach on N. S. Cap* Lewis & the hunter joined us. brought no
Game with them, the 2 Cap* & 2 more knockd for bow pack1
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Black Bluffs on the south side, high land, hilly with plains on both sides of the river. No timber except in the bottoms along the river. Passed a timbered bottom on the south side. Two men went out hunting. At 1 o'clock we halted at an old Rickree (Arikara) village on the south side and took dinner. Our hunters came to us, having killed a fat elk. We found at this village some squashes. The Rickree left it last spring. Their village was built very close and compact, and each separate house was covered with earth. We saw several canoes made of buffalo hides which would carry 2 men and considerable baggage, also some baskets. We took several of them and some of the squashes, etc., etc.
We proceeded on. Capt Lewis (Capt. Lewis) and one hunter went out hunting on a handsome bottom covered with timber on the north side. Passed a creek on the south side. We camped on a large sand beach on the north side. Capt Lewis (Capt. Lewis) and the hunter joined us, but brought no game with them. The 2 captains and 2 more knocked for bow pack.
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