Lewis: February 9, 1806
On this Sunday at Fort Clatsop, Collins and Wiser took the Indian canoe across the Netul River to hunt. Drewyer returned in the evening with only one beaver, having spotted a black bear—the first seen in the area, though local Indians reported bears were abundant but currently denning. Lewis recorded detailed botanical observations of a marsh-dwelling fir species and the local black alder, comparing both to familiar eastern varieties. Concerned that their meat supply would spoil, the captains assigned six men to jerk it for preservation.
Sunday February 9th 1806 This morning Collins and Wiser set out on a
hunting excurtion; they took our Indian canoe and passed the Netul a
little above us. in the evening Drewyer returned; had killed nothing but
one beaver. he saw one black bear, which is the only one which has been
seen in this neighbourhood since our arrival; the Indians inform us that
they are abundant but are now in their holes.
in the marshy ground frequently overflown by the tides there grows a
species of fir which I take to be the same of No. 5 which it resembles in
every particular except that it is more defusely branched and not so
large, being seldom more than 30 feet high and 18 inches or 2 feet in
diameter; it’s being more defusely branched may proceed from it’s open
situation seldom growing very close. the cone is 21/2 inches in length and
33/4 in it’s greatest circumpherence, which is near it’s base, and from
which it tapers regularly to a point. it is formed of imbricated scales of
a bluntly rounded form, thin not very firm and smoth. a thin leaf is
inserted into the pith of the cone, which overlays the center of and
extends 1/2 an inch beyond the point of each scale. the form of this leaf
is somewhat thus overlaying one of the imbricated scales.
The stem of the black alder of this country before mentioned as arriving
to great size, is simply branching and defuse. the bark is smooth of a
light colour with white coloured spreading spots or blotches, resembling
much that of the beech; the leaf fructification &c is precisely that
of the common alder of our country. these trees grow seperately from
different roots and not in clusters or clumps as those of the Atlantic
states. fearing that our meat would spoil we set six men to jurking it.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Sunday February 9th 1806. This morning Collins and Wiser set out on a hunting excursion; they took our Indian canoe and passed the Netul a little above us. In the evening Drewyer (Drouillard) returned; he had killed nothing but one beaver. He saw one black bear, which is the only one that has been seen in this neighborhood since our arrival; the Indians inform us that they are abundant but are now in their holes.
In the marshy ground frequently overflowed by the tides there grows a species of fir which I take to be the same as No. 5, which it resembles in every particular except that it is more diffusely branched and not so large, being seldom more than 30 feet high and 18 inches or 2 feet in diameter; its being more diffusely branched may result from its open situation, seldom growing very close together. The cone is 2 1/2 inches in length and 3 3/4 inches in its greatest circumference, which is near its base, and from which it tapers regularly to a point. It is formed of imbricated scales of a bluntly rounded form, thin, not very firm, and smooth. A thin leaf is inserted into the pith of the cone, which overlays the center of and extends 1/2 an inch beyond the point of each scale. The form of this leaf is somewhat thus, overlaying one of the imbricated scales.
The stem of the black alder of this country, before mentioned as growing to great size, is simply branching and diffuse. The bark is smooth, of a light color with white-colored spreading spots or blotches, much resembling that of the beech; the leaf, fructification, etc. is precisely that of the common alder of our country. These trees grow separately from different roots and not in clusters or clumps as those of the Atlantic states do. Fearing that our meat would spoil, we set six men to jerking it.
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.
