Patrick Gass: May 14, 1804

On Monday the 14th of May 1804, we left our establishment at the mouth of the river du Bois or Wood river, a small river which falls into the Mississippi, on the east side, a mile below the Missouri, and having crossed the Mississippi proceeded up the Missouri on our intended voyage of discovery, under the command of Captain Clarke. Captain Lewis was to join us in two or three days on our passage. The expedition was embarked on board a batteau and two periogues. The day was showery and in the evening we encamped on the north bank six miles up the river.

Source: Patrick Gass, A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery (Pittsburgh, 1807; 1811 reprint). Public domain. McKeehan’s published prose, not Gass’s lost original notebook.