Journal Entry

Lewis: June 15, 1806

June 15, 1806
Bitterroot crossing attempt, turned back by snow
AI Summary

On a rainy Sunday, the party had trouble rounding up their straggling horses and waited for the weather to ease before setting out at 10 A.M. They met hunters Reuben Fields and Willard, who had killed three deer and spotted two bears, one black and one white. The slick roads and fallen timber made travel slow and exhausting, causing several horses to fall without injury. After crossing Collins's Creek multiple times, they camped near a small prairie having covered 22 miles through densely timbered country.

Sunday June 15th 1806. We had some little difficulty in collecting our
horses this morning they had straggled off to a greater distance than
usual. it rained very hard in the morning and after collecting our horses
we waited for it to abait, but as it had every appearance of a settled
rain we set out at 10 A.M. we passed a little prarie at the distance of
81/2 me. to which we had previously sent R. Feilds and Willard. we found
two deer which they had killed and hung up. at the distance of 21/2 miles
further we arrived at Collins’s Creek where we found our hunters; they had
killed another deer, and had seen two large bear together the one black
and the other white. we halted at the creek, dined and graized our horses.
the rains have rendered the road very slippery insomuch that it is with
much difficulty our horses can get on several of them fell but sustained
no injury. after dinner we proceeded up the creek about 1/2 a mile,
passing it three times, thence through a high broken country to an
Easterly fork of the same creek about 101/2 miles and incamped near a
small prarie in the bottom land the fallen timber in addition to the
slippry roads made our march slow and extreemly laborious on our horses.
the country is exceedingly thickly timbered with long leafed pine, some
pitch pine, larch, white pine, white cedar or arborvita of large size, and
a variety of firs. the undergrowth principally reed root from 6 to 10 feet
high with all the other speceis enumerated the other day. the soil is
good; in some plaices it is of a red cast like our lands in Virginia about
the S. W. mountains. Saw the speckled woodpecker, bee martin and log cock
or large woodpecker. found the nest of a humming bird, it had just began
to lay its eggs.Came 22 Miles today.

Read this entry in modern English AI-translated

Sunday, June 15th, 1806. We had some little difficulty in collecting our horses this morning; they had straggled off to a greater distance than usual. It rained very hard in the morning, and after collecting our horses we waited for it to abate, but as it had every appearance of a settled rain we set out at 10 A.M. We passed a little prairie at the distance of 8½ miles, to which we had previously sent R. Fields and Willard. We found two deer which they had killed and hung up. At the distance of 2½ miles further we arrived at Collins's Creek, where we found our hunters; they had killed another deer, and had seen two large bears together, the one black and the other white. We halted at the creek, dined, and grazed our horses. The rains have rendered the road very slippery, insomuch that it is with much difficulty our horses can get on. Several of them fell but sustained no injury.

After dinner we proceeded up the creek about ½ a mile, passing it three times, thence through a high, broken country to an easterly fork of the same creek about 10½ miles, and camped near a small prairie in the bottomland. The fallen timber, in addition to the slippery roads, made our march slow and extremely laborious on our horses. The country is exceedingly thickly timbered with long-leafed pine, some pitch pine, larch, white pine, white cedar or arborvitae of large size, and a variety of firs. The undergrowth is principally reed root from 6 to 10 feet high, with all the other species enumerated the other day. The soil is good; in some places it is of a red cast like our lands in Virginia about the S.W. mountains. Saw the speckled woodpecker, bee martin, and log cock or large woodpecker. Found the nest of a hummingbird; it had just begun to lay its eggs. Came 22 miles today.

This modernization is AI-generated for accessibility. The original above is the authoritative version.

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