Lewis: July 16, 1806
After a delay retrieving stray horses, Lewis and his small party left their camp and traveled down the Missouri to the Great Falls. Lewis took the baggage by buffalo-skin canoe with J. Fields, while Drouillard and R. Fields drove the horses, swimming them across the Medicine River. He paused to sketch the 47-foot falls and ate dinner, then reached the grand falls by sunset. Spotting four bears, the men camped under a sheltering rock as rain threatened. Lewis noted antelope, geese, buffalo, and cuckoos along the way, and planned another drawing the next morning.
Wednesday July 16th 1806. I dispatched a man early this morning to drive
up the horses as usual, he returned at 8 A.M. with one of them only.
allarmed at this occurrence I dispatched one of my best hands on horseback
in surch of them he returned at 10 A.M. with them and I immediately set
out. sent Drewyer and R. Fields with the horses to the lower side of
Medecine river, and proceeded myself with all our baggage and J. Fields
down the missouri to the mouth of Medecine river in our canoe of buffaloe
skins. we were compelled to swim the horses above the whitebear island and
again across medicine river as the Missouri is of great width below the
mouth of that river. having arrived safely below Medicine river we
immediatly sadled our horses and proceeded down the river to the handsom
fall of 47 feet where I halted about 2 hours and took a haisty sketch of
these falls; in the mean time we had some meat cooked and took dinner
after which we proceeded to the grand falls where we arrived at sunset. on
our way we saw two very large bear on the opposite side of the river. as
we arrived in sight of the little wood below the falls we saw two other
bear enter it; this being the only wood in the neighbourhood we were
compelled of course to contend with the bear for possession, and therefore
left our horses in a place of security and entered the wood which we
surched in vain for the bear, they had fled. here we encamped and the
evening having the appearance of rain made our beds and slept under a
shelving rock. these falls have abated much of their grandure since I
first arrived at them in June 1805, the water being much lower at preset
than it was at that moment, however they are still a sublimely grand
object. I determined to take a second drawing of it in the morning. we saw
a few buffaloe as we passed today, the immence hirds which were about this
place on our arrival have principally passed the river and directed their
course downwards. we see a number of goats or antilopes always in passing
through the plains of the Missouri above the Mandans. at this season they
are thinly scattered over the plains but seem universally distributed in
every part; they appear very inquisitive usually to learn what we are as
we pass, and frequently accompany us at no great distance for miles,
frequently halting and giving a loud whistle through their nostrils, they
are a very pretty animal and astonishingly fleet and active. we spent this
evening free from the torture of the Musquetoes. there are a great number
of geese which usually raise their young above these falls about the
entrance of Medicine river we saw them in large flocks of several hundred
as we passed today. I saw both yesterday and today the Cookkoo or as it is
sometimes called the rain craw. this bird is not met with west of the
Rocky Mountains nor within them.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Wednesday, July 16th, 1806. I dispatched a man early this morning to drive up the horses as usual; he returned at 8 A.M. with only one of them. Alarmed at this occurrence, I dispatched one of my best hands on horseback in search of them. He returned at 10 A.M. with them, and I immediately set out. I sent Drewyer (Drouillard) and R. Fields with the horses to the lower side of Medecine (Medicine) River, and proceeded myself with all our baggage and J. Fields down the Missouri to the mouth of Medecine River in our canoe of buffalo skins. We were compelled to swim the horses above the White Bear Island and again across Medicine River, as the Missouri is of great width below the mouth of that river. Having arrived safely below Medicine River, we immediately saddled our horses and proceeded down the river to the handsome fall of 47 feet, where I halted about 2 hours and took a hasty sketch of these falls. In the meantime, we had some meat cooked and took dinner, after which we proceeded to the Grand Falls, where we arrived at sunset.
On our way we saw two very large bears on the opposite side of the river. As we arrived in sight of the little wood below the falls, we saw two other bears enter it. This being the only wood in the neighborhood, we were of course compelled to contend with the bears for possession, and therefore left our horses in a place of security and entered the wood, which we searched in vain for the bears; they had fled. Here we camped, and as the evening had the appearance of rain, we made our beds and slept under a shelving rock.
These falls have lost much of their grandeur since I first arrived at them in June 1805, the water being much lower at present than it was at that moment; however, they are still a sublimely grand object. I determined to take a second drawing of it in the morning. We saw a few buffalo as we passed today; the immense herds which were about this place on our arrival have principally passed the river and directed their course downward.
We see a number of goats or antelopes always in passing through the plains of the Missouri above the Mandans. At this season they are thinly scattered over the plains but seem universally distributed in every part. They appear very inquisitive, usually to learn what we are as we pass, and frequently accompany us at no great distance for miles, frequently halting and giving a loud whistle through their nostrils. They are a very pretty animal and astonishingly fleet and active.
We spent this evening free from the torture of the mosquitoes. There are a great number of geese which usually raise their young above these falls about the entrance of Medicine River; we saw them in large flocks of several hundred as we passed today. I saw both yesterday and today the cuckoo, or as it is sometimes called, the rain crow. This bird is not met with west of the Rocky Mountains, nor within them.
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