Canoe Camp on Clearwater River — Patrick Gass: October 2, 1805

the men went out to hunt. The river at this place is so con-
fined by the mountains that it is not more than 20 yards wide,
and very rapid. The mountains on the sides are not less than
1000 feet high and very steep. There are a few pines growing
on them. We caught some small fish to-day, and our hunters
killed 5 prairie fowls. These were all we had to subsist on.
At 1 o’clock Captain Clarke and his party returned, after
having been down the river about 12 miles. They found it
was not possible to go down either by land or water without
much risk and trouble. The water is so rapid and the bed of
the river so rocky, that going by water appeared impractica-
ble ; and the mountains so amazingly high, steep and rocky,
that it seemed impossible to go along the river by land. Our
i32 GASS’S JOURNAL OF THE
guide speaks of a way to sea, by going up the south fork of
this river, getting on to the mountains that way, and then
turning to the south west again. Captain Clarke therefore
wrote a letter to Captain Lewis, and dispatched a man on
horseback to meet him ; and we all turned back up the river
again, poor and uncomfortable enough, as we had nothing to
eat, and there is no game. We proceeded up about 3 miles,
and supperless went to rest for the night.