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Journal entry · August 6, 1805

Jefferson/Beaverhead River near present-day Dillon — Joseph Whitehouse: August 6, 1805

Joseph Whitehouse · Jefferson/Beaverhead River near present-day Dillon · Thwaites Vol. Thwaites Vol 7

The place today: Jefferson/Beaverhead River near present-day Dillon

a clear morning. we Set out as usal, and proceeded on hall-
ing the canoes up the rapids. the bottoms low and covered
with Small timber. about 8 oClock A. M. we halted for
breakfast at a grove of timber. Saw an Indian trale or path.
G. Drewyer Came to us and informed us that we had got the
wrong fork & that their was 3 forks & Cap: Lewis allowed
that the middle fork would be the right course & the best fork
for us to go up. Cap! Lewis gone down to the forks. we
turned about and went down to the forks with the crafts. in
going through a difficult place which we went up thro last
evening, one canoe got up Set and everry perticle of the load-
ing got wet. one of the men who was in the bow lost his
knapsack and the most of his cloaths &c. I was in the Stern
when She Swang & jumped out to prevent hir from turning
over but the current took hir round So rapid that caught my
[ 128 ]
1805] WHITEHOUSE’S JOURNAL
leg under hir and lamed me & was near breaking my leg.
lost my Shot pouch powder horn full of powder a bunch of
thred and Some mockisons &c. the remainder of the loading
Saved. we found it difficult to go down over the Sholes.
Several canoes ran fast &c. one of the large canoes took in
water & was near filling. we got down to the forks found
Cap: Lewis & party their. they informed us that they had
been about 30 miles up & their was 3 forks and the middle
fork was the best for us, to go. we halted here at the forks
on L, S. and put out all the articles which got wet to dry.
one of the men who went out to hunt this morning has not
returned. Several men went out from this place to hunt.
we had a Small Shower of rain. the hunters all returned in
the evening had killed 3 Deer and one faun Elk. we blew
the horn & fired Several guns, expecting the man who went
out this morning George Shannon was lost. the Indian goods
&c. did not all git dry this evening &c.

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The NPS atlas for this night

junction point of Big Hole and Jefferson-Beaverhead rivers, 1805, MT

NPS campsite reconstruction (Bergantino)

From the NPS Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Park Atlas, mirrored here on September 21, 2026. This copy is not authoritative; NPS remains the system of record. About the mirror

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