Lewis: June 28, 1805
At the upper camp, Lewis assigned his men various tasks for constructing the iron-frame boat: shaving elk skins, making cross stays and horizontal bars, and gathering willow bark for binding. Short on elk hides, he singed three buffalo hides to cover one section. White bears prowled close to camp nightly, prompting Lewis to keep men armed and traveling in groups. At the lower camp, Captain Clark moved baggage and a canoe across the portage with great difficulty, caching some items, killing two buffalo at Willow Run, and enduring a cold rainstorm with strong southwest winds.
Friday June 28th 1805. Set Drewyer to shaving the Elk skins, Fields to
make the cross stays for the boat, Frazier and Whitehouse continue their
operation with the skins, Shields and Gass finish the horizontal bars of
the sections; after which I sent them in surch of willow bark, a
sufficient supply of which they now obtained to bind the boat. expecting
the party this evening I prepared a supper for them but they did not
arrive. not having quite Elk skins enough I employed three buffaloe hides
to cover one section. not being able to shave these skins I had them
singed pretty closely with a blazeing torch; I think they will answer
tolerable well. The White bear have become so troublesome to us that I do
not think it prudent to send one man alone on an errand of any kind,
particularly where he has to pass through the brush. we have seen two of
them on the large Island opposite to us today but are so much engaged that
we could not spare the time to hunt them but will make a frolick of it
when the party return and drive them from these islands. they come close
arround our camp every night but have never yet ventured to attack us and
our dog gives us timely notice of their visits, he keeps constantly
padroling all night. I have made the men sleep with their arms by them as
usual for fear of accedents. the river is now about nine inches higher
than it was on my arrival. lower Camp. early this morning Capt. C.
dispatched the remaining canoe with some baggage to the top of the plain
above Portage creek three miles in advance; some others he employed in
carrying the articles to the cash and depositing them and others to mend
the carriages which wer somewhat out of repair. this being accomplished he
loaded the two carriages with the remaining baggage and set out with all
the party and proceeded on with much difficulty to the canoe in the plain.
portage creek had arisen considerably and the water was of crimson colour
and illy tasted. on his arrival at the canoe he found there was more
baggage than he could possibly take at one load on the two sets of trucks
and therefore left some barrels of pork & flour and a few heavy boxes
of amunition which could not well be injured, and proceeded with the canoe
& one set of trucks loaded with baggage to willow run where he
encamped for the night, and killed two buffaloe to subsist the party. soon
after his arrival at willow run he experienced a hard shower of rain which
was succeeded by a violent wind from the S. W. off the snowy mountains,
accompanyed with rain; the party being cold and wet, he administered the
consolation of a dram to each.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Friday June 28th, 1805. I set Drewyer (Drouillard) to shaving the elk skins, Fields to making the cross stays for the boat, and Frazier and Whitehouse to continuing their work with the skins. Shields and Gass finished the horizontal bars of the sections; after which I sent them in search of willow bark, and they obtained a sufficient supply to bind the boat. Expecting the party this evening, I prepared a supper for them, but they did not arrive. Not having quite enough elk skins, I used three buffalo hides to cover one section. Not being able to shave these skins, I had them singed pretty closely with a blazing torch; I think they will work tolerably well. The white bear have become so troublesome to us that I do not think it prudent to send one man alone on an errand of any kind, particularly where he has to pass through the brush. We saw two of them on the large island opposite us today, but we are so busy that we could not spare the time to hunt them. We will make a frolic of it when the party returns and drive them from these islands. They come close around our camp every night, but have never yet ventured to attack us, and our dog gives us timely notice of their visits, as he keeps constantly patrolling all night. I have made the men sleep with their arms by them as usual for fear of accidents. The river is now about nine inches higher than it was when I arrived.
Lower Camp. Early this morning Capt. C. (Capt. Clark) dispatched the remaining canoe with some baggage to the top of the plain above Portage Creek, three miles in advance. He employed some other men in carrying articles to the cache and depositing them, and others in mending the carriages, which were somewhat out of repair. This being accomplished, he loaded the two carriages with the remaining baggage and set out with all the party, proceeding with much difficulty to the canoe in the plain. Portage Creek had risen considerably, and the water was of a crimson color and badly tasting. On his arrival at the canoe, he found there was more baggage than he could possibly take at one load on the two sets of trucks, and therefore he left some barrels of pork and flour and a few heavy boxes of ammunition, which could not be easily damaged, and proceeded with the canoe and one set of trucks loaded with baggage to Willow Run, where he camped for the night and killed two buffalo to feed the party. Soon after his arrival at Willow Run, he experienced a hard shower of rain, which was followed by a violent wind from the S.W. off the snowy mountains, accompanied by rain. The party being cold and wet, he gave the consolation of a dram to each.
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.
