Missouri River near Big Bend — John Ordway: September 21, 1804

eairly. proceeded on. passed a beautiful high prarie or plains
on N. S. passed on round the point of the Big Bend a handsome
place & high prarie graddually ascending from the river on N. S.
house designates the place, with unconscious appropriateness, “the Souix pass
over of the three Rivers.”
1 This Clark named Night Creek, from the circumstance noted by Ordway
in the following sentence. Coues supposes it to be modern Fish Creek; more
probably, however, Camel Creek of the M. R. C. map.
2 This seems to correspond to modern Fish Creek, shown on the M. R. C.
map at the 1,093 mile point. The expedition here enters upon a remarkable
loop in the river, known as the Grand Detour. Clark reports the distance
across the neck of the bend in its narrowest part as 1} miles, while the distance
around was 30 miles (journal entries, September 20 and 21). These figures
agree approximately with the distances shown on the M. R. C. map.
1804] SERGEANT ORDWAY’S JOURNAL 135
& a ceeder Bluff and ceeder Bottom on S. S. passd Tylors River1
on S. S. we found 2 Deer at the mouth of this R. that the hunters
had killed & hung up for us they had gone on. here we Saw the
Sand bars covered with w. head plovvers. Cap* Lewis Shot some
of them for his dinner, we passed Some Timber on s. s. But verry
little on the N. S. little below a mock Island2 at a handsome Bot-
tom prarie we have now passed round the Big Bend which is
30 miles round and only \ m. across in the nearest place.