Missouri River near Niobrara River — John Ordway: September 6, 1804
The expedition set off early but struggled against swift, shallow currents, repeatedly running aground on sandbars and unable to make progress with oars or poles. They crossed to the north side and resorted to towing the boat by line, passing long, ragged yellow cliffs on the south side. Colter rejoined the boat without finding Shannon or the lost horses, but brought in plentiful game including a buffalo, elk, deer, wolf, turkeys, goose, and beaver. Reuben Fields killed a deer and fawn. Weather turned cold and rainy. They camped at a prairie bottom above a cottonwood grove.
Set off eairly, got fast several times on the Sand bars, could not
make much headway with the oars nor poles & were oblidged to
cross over on N. S. & make use of the Towing line, the current
Swift & Shallow, we came to verry long Strait high Raged yallow
clifts S. S. Colter came to the Boat had not found Shannon nor
the horses But had killed one Buffelow, one Elk, 3 Deer one wolf
5 Turkies & one Goose one Beaver also N. B. the Boat got
fast on the Sand bar the [word illegible] Swung, the men all
out Got whiskey rainy & cold weather. Reuben Fields killed
1 Clark reports, on the contrary, that signs of Shannon and Colter were seen,
and that Shannon appeared to be ahead of his pursuer.
2 Modern Chouteau Creek, which empties into the Missouri near the west-
ern boundary of Bonhomme County, S. Dak.
3 Now called Ponca Creek. The M. H. C. map shows its mouth about a
mile above the mouth of the Niobrara River. Other modern maps represent
it as several miles above, approximately opposite the mouth of Chouteau Creek.
This agrees with Clark’s measurements which put the mouth of Ponca Creek
six miles above the mouth of the Niobrara.
4 “goats or antelope.” Gass. The antelope was first made known to scien-
tists by the Lewis and Clark expedition.
1804] SERGEANT ORDWAY’S JOURNAL 127
1 Deer & 1 faun, we Camped at a handsome Bottom prarie on
N. S. above a fine Grove of C. wood Timber.1
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Set off early, got stuck several times on the sand bars, could not make much headway with the oars nor poles, and were obliged to cross over on the north side and make use of the towing line. The current was swift and shallow. We came to very long, straight, high, ragged yellow cliffs on the south side. Colter came to the boat; he had not found Shannon nor the horses, but had killed one buffalo, one elk, three deer, one wolf, five turkeys, one goose, and also one beaver. N. B. The boat got fast on the sand bar, the [word illegible] swung, and the men were all out. Got whiskey. Rainy and cold weather. Reuben Fields killed one deer and one fawn. We camped at a handsome bottom prairie on the north side, above a fine grove of cottonwood timber.
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