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Journal entry · September 10, 1804

Prairie dog village near present-day Chamberlain — Patrick Gass: September 10, 1804

Patrick Gass · Prairie dog village near present-day Chamberlain · Thwaites Vol. Gass 1807 First Edition

The place today: Prairie dog village near present-day Chamberlain

early; passed high bluffs on the north side, and saw some
timber in the bottom on the south side. At 12 we came to
black sulphur bluffs on the south side. On the top of these
bluffs we found the skeleton or back bones of a fish, 45 feet
long, and petrified: part of these bones were sent to the city
of Washington. One of our sergeants discovered a large salt
spring about a mile and a half from the river. A hunter went
up the bank and killed an elk. We left a periogue for the
men who were dressing the elk, and proceeded up the north
side of the river two miles, when we were obliged to return
LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 31
on account of sand bars, and to take the south side. Here we
saw eight elk swimming the river, and had seen a great many
buffaloe during the day. We encamped on an island and
killed one buffaloe.

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The NPS atlas for this night

Mud (Pocahontas) Island, SD

NPS campsite reconstruction (Bergantino)

About 22.0 miles of travel mapped this day (NPS’s reconstruction of the course)

From the NPS Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Park Atlas, mirrored here on September 21, 2026. This copy is not authoritative; NPS remains the system of record. About the mirror

Nearest 360° imagery: Chamberlain L&C Interpretive Center Terrain360’s closest capture is about 6.7 miles from this entry’s tagged location.
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