Missouri River near Niobrara River — John Ordway: September 4, 1804
The expedition set out early and stopped for breakfast at a small creek on the south side, gathering plums and hackberries. Strong southerly winds let them hoist sail and travel fast until the mast broke. They passed a yellow-red cedar cliff, White Paint Creek, and the mouth of the Big Rapid (Niobrara) River with its swift current and sandbars, along with a Ponca village. After dining opposite a colored cliff, they noted abundant timber and an Indian raft. Drouillard shot a turkey and a duck. They camped on the south side and made a smoke signal seeking the missing Shannon, but found no tracks.
eairly, proceeded on passed a Small Creek on S. S. where we took
breakfast found some plumbs & hack burrys &. C. passed a
high yallow red ceeder Clift on the S. S. & above the clift we passed
the m° of a creek called white paint3 C. the wind Shifted to
the South & blew verry hard we hoisted Sail ran verry fast a
Short time Broke our mast, we [the] Sand flew from the Sand
bars verry thick we landed at 12 o. C. to dine at a large bottom
prarie on S. S. opposite to a yallow & blew Clift N. S. we passed
the Mouth of the Big Rapid River4 & ponkias village on S. S.
the water Shoots in to the Missouri verry Swift, & has thrown the
Sand out, which makes a Sand bar & Sholes from the mouth a
considerable distance we Saw 2 Deer, & large flocks of geese up
the m° of this river; we proceeded on passt a handsom Bottom
covered with different kinds of Timber Such as red Ceeder, honey
locas, oak arrowwood Elm, Coffee nut &. C. we Saw an Indian
raft where they had crossed not long before; Drewyer killed one
1 Modern Emanuel Creek, its mouth a mile above Springfield, Bonhomme
County, S. Dak.
2 In Knox County, Nebr., near the 933 mile point of the Missouri as shown
on the M. R. C. map.
3 Modern Bazile Creek, Knox County, Nebr.
4 The Niobrara River; it rises in Wyoming and runs in a general easterly
direction across northern Nebraska.
126 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [Sept. 5
Turkey & one duck; we Camped on the South Side in a ceeder
Bottom back of which are Steep Cliffs covered with ceeder.
N. B. a Smoke was made to find where Shannon had passed, but
no tracks found.1
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Early, proceeded on. Passed a small creek on the south side, where we took breakfast and found some plums and hackberries, etc. Passed a high yellow-red cedar cliff on the south side, and above the cliff we passed the mouth of a creek called White Paint Creek. The wind shifted to the south and blew very hard. We hoisted sail and ran very fast a short time, then broke our mast. The sand flew from the sandbars very thick. We landed at 12 o'clock to dine at a large bottom prairie on the south side, opposite to a yellow and blue cliff on the north side. We passed the mouth of the Big Rapid River and the Ponca village on the south side. The water shoots into the Missouri very swift, and has thrown the sand out, which makes a sandbar and shoals from the mouth a considerable distance. We saw 2 deer and large flocks of geese up the mouth of this river.
We proceeded on, passed a handsome bottom covered with different kinds of timber such as red cedar, honey locust, oak, arrowwood, elm, coffee nut, etc. We saw an Indian raft where they had crossed not long before. Drouillard (Drewyer) killed one turkey and one duck. We camped on the south side in a cedar bottom, back of which are steep cliffs covered with cedar.
N.B. A smoke was made to find where Shannon had passed, but no tracks were found.
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