Marias River decision camp — Patrick Gass: June 4, 1805
Two scouting parties set out to determine which branch was the true Missouri: one up the North Branch, and Captain Clark with the author and four others up the South Branch. The southern group noted the two rivers passing within 200 yards of each other, stopped at a spring for grog, and traveled about thirty miles through dry plains of prickly pear. They spotted a possibly snow-capped mountain range to the south. At evening, a large bear attacked one man whose gun misfired, but shots from the others drove it off. They camped in an old Indian lodge.
North Branch, to see if they could find any certain marks to
determine whether that was the Missouri or not; and Captain
Clarke myself and four others went up the South branch, for
the same purpose with regard to that branch. About eight
miles above the confluence, the South branch and the small
river which falls into the North branch, are not more than
200 yards apart. Near this place and close on the bank of
the South branch is a beautiful spring where we refreshed
ourselves with a good drink of grog; and proceeded on
through the high plains. Here nothing grows but prickly
LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 95
pears, which are in abundance, and some short grass. We
went on about thirty miles and found the river still extending
in a South West direction. We saw a mountain to the South
about 20 miles off, which appeared to run East and West, and
some spots on it resembling snow. In the evening we went
towards the river to encamp, where one of the men having got
down to a small point of woods on the bank, before the rest
of the party, was attacked by a huge he-bear, and his gun
missed fire. We were about 200 yards from him, but the
bank there was so steep we could not get down to his assist-
_ ance: we, however, fired at the animal from the place where
we stood and he went off without injuring the man. Having
got down we all encamped in an old Indian lodge for the
night.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
North Branch, to see if they could find any certain marks to determine whether that was the Missouri or not; and Captain Clarke (Captain Clark), myself, and four others went up the South branch for the same purpose with regard to that branch. About eight miles above the confluence, the South branch and the small river which falls into the North branch are not more than 200 yards apart. Near this place, and close on the bank of the South branch, is a beautiful spring where we refreshed ourselves with a good drink of grog; and we proceeded on through the high plains. Here nothing grows but prickly pears, which are in abundance, and some short grass. We went on about thirty miles and found the river still extending in a southwest direction. We saw a mountain to the south about 20 miles off, which appeared to run east and west, with some spots on it resembling snow.
In the evening we went toward the river to camp. One of the men, having gotten down to a small point of woods on the bank before the rest of the party, was attacked by a huge he-bear, and his gun misfired. We were about 200 yards from him, but the bank there was so steep we could not get down to his assistance. We, however, fired at the animal from the place where we stood, and he went off without injuring the man. Having gotten down, we all camped in an old Indian lodge for the night.
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.
