Lewis: June 4, 1806
Around noon, three Nez Perce chiefs departed for their villages after meeting with the captains. The expedition repeated earlier promises and urged the chiefs to travel to the Missouri, but the chiefs declined until late summer, planning to winter east of the Rockies. They gave no firm answer about sending young men with Lewis to mediate peace with the Minnetares near Maria's River. Broken Arm invited the captains to his village, and Clark agreed to visit in two days. Shields returned in the evening from the quamash grounds with two deer.
Wednesday June 4th 1806. about noon The 3 Cheifs left us and returned to
their vilages. while they were with us we repeated the promises we had
formerly made them and invited them to the Missouri with us, they declined
going untill the latter end of the summer and said it was there intention
to spend the ensuing winter on the East side of the Rocky mountains. they
gave us no positive answer to a request which we made, that two or three
of their young men should accompany me to the falls of the Missouri and
there wait my return from the upper part of Maria’s river where it was
probable I should meet with some of the bands of the Minnetares from Fort
de Prarie; that in such case I should indeavor to bring about a good
understanding between those indians and themselves, which when effected
they would be informed of it though the young men thus sent with me, and
that on the contrary should I not be fortunate enough to meet with these
people nor to prevail on them to be at peace they would equally be
informed through those young men, and they might still remain on their
guard with rispect to them untill the whites had it in their power to give
them more effectual releif. The Broken Arm invited us to his village and
said he wished to speak to us before we set out, and that he had some
roots to give us for our journey over the mountains; Capt. C. promised to
visit him as he wished the day after tomorrow.Sheilds returned this
evening from the quawmash grounds with 2 deer which he had killed.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Wednesday, June 4th, 1806. About noon, the 3 Chiefs left us and returned to their villages. While they were with us, we repeated the promises we had formerly made them and invited them to come to the Missouri with us. They declined going until the latter end of the summer and said it was their intention to spend the coming winter on the east side of the Rocky Mountains. They gave us no definite answer to a request we made: that two or three of their young men should accompany me to the falls of the Missouri and there wait for my return from the upper part of Maria's River, where it was probable I would meet with some of the bands of the Minnetares from Fort de Prairie. In such a case, I would try to bring about a good understanding between those Indians and themselves, which, when accomplished, they would learn of through the young men sent with me. On the contrary, should I not be fortunate enough to meet with these people, or to persuade them to be at peace, they would likewise be informed through those young men, and they could still remain on their guard with respect to them until the whites had it in their power to give them more effective relief.
The Broken Arm invited us to his village and said he wished to speak to us before we set out, and that he had some roots to give us for our journey over the mountains. Capt. C. (Capt. Clark) promised to visit him, as he wished, the day after tomorrow. Shields returned this evening from the quamash grounds with 2 deer that he had killed.
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.
