Canoe Camp on Clearwater River — Patrick Gass: September 27, 1805

o’clock we set forward on our march towards the river, all
but one man who had gone back to look for the horses and
another that had remained at the first village. The men are
generally unwell, owing to the change of diet. The valley is
level and lightly timbered with pine and spruce trees. The
soil is thin except in some small plains, where it is of the first
quality. The adjacent country appears much the same; ex-
LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 149
cept that on the river it is broken with hills and some rocks.
In the valley there are great quantities of service-berry bushes.
In the evening we arrived at the camp of our hunters on a
river about 100 yards broad, a branch of the Columbia. The
natives say it is two days march to the great river. We en-
camped on a small island with our hunters who had killed 5
deer, which was a very pleasing circumstance to us; as the
Indian provisions did not agree with us. Captain Clarke gave
all the sick a dose of Rush’s Pills, to see what effect that
would have. We found some of the natives here upon the
river fishing.