Spirit Mound, South Dakota — Patrick Gass: August 29, 1804

and rain came on from the N. W. and the rain continued the
greater part of the night. The morning was cloudy with some
thunder. We are generally well supplied with Catfish, the best
I have ever seen. Some large ones were taken last night. In
the afternoon the men who had gone to the Indian camp
returned and brought with them sixty Indians of the Sioux
nation. They encamped for the evening upon the opposite
shore, and some corn and tobacco were sent over to them.
The sergeant who had gone to their camp informed me that
their lodges, forty in number, are about nine miles from the
Missouri on the Sacque river. They are made of dressed
buffaloe and elk skins, painted red and white, and are very
handsome. He said the women are homely and mostly old;
but the young men likely and active. They killed a dog asa
token of friendship. One of our men killed a deer.