Great Falls Portage — Joseph Whitehouse: June 30, 1805
On a clear, pleasant day, the party traveled 16 miles up the river. They spotted a large white bear on an island, several otters, and a flock of antelope, one of which a hunter killed. They passed a former campsite of Captain Clark and saw mountains ahead that appeared snow-capped. The men ate abundant red and yellow currants. In the afternoon, they entered rough rocky hills, believed to be a second range of the Rockies, and double-manned the boats through shallow, rocky rapids. Whitehouse cut his foot on a stone while towing. They camped on the north side.
a clear pleasant morning. we Set out as usal and proceeded
on. Saw a large white bear on an Island. Saw a nomber of
otter. Saw a flock of goats or antelopes one of the hunters
killed one of them. we Saw a Camp where Cap! Clark had
Stayed one night. discovered mountains a head which appear
to have Snow on them, if not Snow it must be verry white Clay
or rocks. we eat abundance of red & yallow currents. the
timber and Island[s] not So pleanty as yesterday. large plains
on each Side of the River & looks pleasant and extensive. in
the afternoon we entered in to Some rough rockey hills which
we expect from the Indian account is the commencement of the
Second chain of the rockey mountains, but they do not appear
So high as the first nor So Solid a rock. at the entrence we
found Several bad rockey rapids which we had to pass through
and So Shallow the rocks Show themselves across the River
and appear Shallow all the way across. we double manned
and got up Safe. I cut my foot with the Stone a towing along
the Shore. Saw excelent Springs which ran from under the clifts.
we came 16 miles this day and Camped on the N.S. our hun-
ter killed one goose, which was all that was killed this day.
[ 120 ]
1805] WHITEHOUSE’S JOURNAL
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
A clear, pleasant morning. We set out as usual and proceeded on. Saw a large white bear on an island. Saw a number of otter. Saw a flock of goats or antelopes; one of the hunters killed one of them. We saw a camp where Capt Clark (Capt. Clark) had stayed one night. Discovered mountains ahead which appear to have snow on them; if not snow, it must be very white clay or rocks. We ate an abundance of red and yellow currants. The timber and islands are not so plentiful as yesterday. Large plains on each side of the river, and they look pleasant and extensive.
In the afternoon we entered into some rough, rocky hills which we expect, from the Indian account, are the commencement of the second chain of the Rocky Mountains, but they do not appear so high as the first, nor so solid a rock. At the entrance we found several bad rocky rapids which we had to pass through, and so shallow that the rocks showed themselves across the river and appeared shallow all the way across. We double-manned and got up safely. I cut my foot with a stone while towing along the shore. Saw excellent springs which ran from under the cliffs. We came 16 miles this day and camped on the north side. Our hunter killed one goose, which was all that was killed this day.
This modernization is AI-generated for accessibility. The original above is the authoritative version.
Entities mentioned in this entry
Auto-extracted from the entry text. Hover any entity for context.
