Marias River decision camp — Joseph Whitehouse: June 10, 1805
On a pleasant day at the forks of the river, the party prepared to lighten their load before pushing on. Some men braided a towing line for the white pirogue while others dug additional cache holes, splitting buried supplies between locations to guard against discovery by Native peoples. The red pirogue was hauled onto a wooded island, hidden among cottonwoods, and trees were branded with U.S. and Captain Lewis's marks. Blacksmiths repaired a broken mainspring on Lewis's air gun. Cargo was redistributed to the remaining boats, and a brief afternoon shower passed.
a beautiful pleasant morning. the party employed Some
makeing a towing line for the white perogue, others employed
digging another hole So that we might bury in different places
what we left So that if the Savages Should find one perhaps
they would not find the other & we would have Some left Still.
about 10 oClock we halled up the red perogue on an Island, on
the North Side of the N. fork which was covered with Small
cotton timber. we halled it among the thicke[st] of trees &
ran the bow between two & pined hir on each Side & covered
hir over with bushes, & Secured hir as well as possable, branded
Several trees with the U. S. mark & Cap! M. Lewis & Lat? &c.
The black Smiths fixed up the bellowses & made a main
Spring to Cap! [Lewis’s] air Gun, as the one belonging to it got
broke. the articles which we Intend to bury all got ready. the
loading which came out of the red perogue divided out to the
White perogue & canoes & loaded them. put a Canister of
powder & led accordingly in the ground near the point, between
the two Rivers at our Camp. about 4 oClock P. M. we had
a light Shower of rain. the evening pleasant.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
A beautiful, pleasant morning. Part of the party was employed making a towing line for the white pirogue, while others were employed digging another hole so that we might bury items in different places. That way, if the Indians should find one, perhaps they would not find the other, and we would still have some left.
About 10 o'clock we hauled up the red pirogue on an island on the north side of the north fork, which was covered with small cottonwood timber. We hauled it among the thickest of the trees and ran the bow between two of them, pinned her on each side, covered her over with bushes, and secured her as well as possible. We branded several trees with the U.S. mark, and with Capt. M. Lewis (Capt. Lewis) and the latitude, etc.
The blacksmiths fixed up the bellows and made a mainspring for Capt. Lewis's air gun, as the one belonging to it had broken. The articles which we intended to bury were all gotten ready. The loading which came out of the red pirogue was divided out to the white pirogue and canoes and loaded into them. We put a canister of powder and lead accordingly in the ground near the point, between the two rivers, at our camp.
About 4 o'clock P.M. we had a light shower of rain. The evening was pleasant.
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