Lost and starving in Bitterroot Mountains — John Ordway: September 18, 1805
At sunrise, Clark and six hunters went ahead hoping to kill game, while one expedition horse went missing. The main party set out across rough, rocky, and steep mountain terrain tangled with logs and brush. Around 3 p.m. they paused on a ridge to graze the horses, melt snow, and prepare portable soup. The mountains stretched farther than expected. Pushing on until dark before finding water, they made camp on a steep mountainside after 14 miles, leading horses down a gully to drink, and supped on portable soup.
Clark and Six hunters Set out at sunrise to go on a head expecting
pared by Wheeler (II, 112) conveys a clearer idea of the situation than any
verbal description can do.
1 Bald Mountain. Wheeler.
288 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [Sept. 19
to kill Some game, one of our horses lost, we set out and proceeded
on the Mountains rough and rockey up and Steep places Some
logs and bushes &C. about 3 oClock P. M. we halted on a ridge
to let our horses graze a little and melt a little Snow and made a
little portable Soup, the Mountains continues as fer as our
eyes could extend, they extend much further than we expeted.
we proceeded on untill dark before we found any water then
Camped on the Side of a Mountain, had come 14 miles this day.
took our horses down a Steep gulley to a run to water them, we
Supped on a little portable Soup and Slept on this Sidling Moun-
tain.1
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Clark and six hunters set out at sunrise to go ahead, expecting to kill some game. One of our horses was lost. We set out and proceeded on. The mountains were rough and rocky, with steep places, some logs and bushes, etc. About 3 o'clock P.M. we halted on a ridge to let our horses graze a little and to melt a little snow, and we made a little portable soup. The mountains continued as far as our eyes could see; they extend much further than we expected.
We proceeded on until dark before we found any water, then camped on the side of a mountain, having come 14 miles this day. We took our horses down a steep gully to a stream to water them. We supped on a little portable soup and slept on this sloping mountain.
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