Lewis: July 23, 1806
Lewis sent Drouillard and Joseph Field out to hunt and to scout the river's course; Drouillard determined the river entered the mountains about ten miles to the southwest. Both hunters returned empty-handed, reporting no game in the area, so the party rendered grease from spoiled meat and made mush from cows root. Drouillard found an abandoned camp of eleven leather lodges, likely Minnetares, prompting Lewis to alter his planned route on Maria's River. He noted whistling squirrels, Columbia-type cottonwoods, white whetstone rock, caught one small trout, and complained of large mosquitoes.
Wednesdy July 23rd 1806 I dispatched Drewyer an Joseph fields this morning
to hunt. I directed Drewyer who went up the river to observe it’s bearings
and the point at which it entered the mountains, this he did and on his
return I observed the point at which the river entered to bear S 50° W.
distant about ten miles the river making a considerable bend to the West
just above us.
both these hunters returned unsuccessful and reported that there was no
game nor the appearance of any in this quarter. we now rendered the grease
from our tainted meat and made some mush of cows with a part of it,
reserving as much meal of cows and grease as would afford us one more meal
tomorrow. Drewyer informed us that there was an indian camp of eleven
leather lodges which appeared to have been abandoned about 10 days, the
poles only of the lodges remained. we are confident that these are the
Minnetares of fort de prarie and suspect that they are probably at this
time somewhere on the main branch of Maria’s river on the borders of the
buffaloe, under this impression I shall not strike that river on my return
untill about the mouth of the North branch. near this place I observe a
number of the whistleing squirrel of the speceis common to the plains and
country watered by the Columbia river, this is the first instance in which
I have found this squirrel in the plains of the Missouri. the Cottonwood
of this place is also of the speceis common to the Columbia. we have a
delightfull pasture for our horses where we are.
The clouds obscured the moon and put an end to further observation. the
rok which makes its appearance on this part of the river is of a white
colour fine grit and makes excellet whetstones; it lies in horizontal
stratas and makes it’s appearance in the bluffs of the river near their
base. we indeavoured to take some fish but took only one small trout.
Musquetoes uncommonly large and reather troublesome.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Wednesday July 23rd 1806. I sent Drewyer and Joseph Fields out to hunt this morning. I directed Drewyer, who went up the river, to observe its bearings and the point at which it entered the mountains. He did this, and on his return I observed that the point where the river entered bore S 50° W, distant about ten miles, the river making a considerable bend to the west just above us.
Both of these hunters returned unsuccessful and reported that there was no game, nor any sign of game, in this area. We then rendered the grease from our tainted meat and made some mush of cows (cous root) with part of it, reserving as much cous meal and grease as would give us one more meal tomorrow. Drewyer informed us that there was an Indian camp of eleven leather lodges which appeared to have been abandoned about 10 days ago; only the poles of the lodges remained. We are confident that these are the Minnetares of Fort de Prairie, and we suspect that they are probably at this time somewhere on the main branch of Maria's River on the borders of the buffalo country. Under this impression, I shall not strike that river on my return until about the mouth of the north branch. Near this place I observed a number of the whistling squirrel of the species common to the plains and country watered by the Columbia River. This is the first instance in which I have found this squirrel in the plains of the Missouri. The cottonwood of this place is also of the species common to the Columbia. We have a delightful pasture for our horses where we are.
The clouds obscured the moon and put an end to further observation. The rock which appears on this part of the river is white in color, fine-grained, and makes excellent whetstones. It lies in horizontal strata and appears in the bluffs of the river near their base. We tried to catch some fish but took only one small trout. The mosquitoes are uncommonly large and rather troublesome.
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