The Journals
of Lewis and Clark: Dates October 19, 1804 - October
26, 1804
The following
excerpts are taken from entries of the Journals of Lewis
and Clark. Dates: October 19, 1804 - October 26, 1804
October
19, 1804
Friday 19. We set sail with a fine morning, and a southeast
wind, and at two and a half miles passed a creek on
the north side: at eleven and a half miles we came to
a lake or large pond on the same side, in which were
some swans. On both banks of the Missouri are low grounds
which have much more timber than lower down the river:
the hills are at one or two miles distance from the
banks, and the streams which rise in them are brackish,
and the mineral salts appear on the sides of the hills
and edges of the runs. In walking along the shore we
counted fifty-two herds of buffalo, and three of elk,
at a single view. Besides these we also observed elk,
deer, pelicans, and wolves. After seventeen and a half
miles we encamped on the north, opposite to the uppermost
of a number of round hills, forming a cone at the top,
one being about ninety, another sixty feet in height,
and some of less elevation. Our chief tells us that
the calumet bird lives in the holes formed by the filtration
of the water from the top of these hills through the
sides. Near to one of these moles, on a point of a hill
ninety feet above the plain, are the remains of an old
village which is high, strong, and has been fortified;
this our chief tells us is the remains of one of the
Mandan villages, and are the first ruins which we have
seen of that nation in ascending the Missouri: opposite
to our camp is a deep bend to the south, at the extremity
of which is a pond.
October
20, 1804
Saturday 20.
We proceeded early with a southeast wind, which continued
high all day, and came to a creek on the north at two
miles distance, twenty yards wide. At eight miles we
reached the lower point of an island in the middle of
the river, though there is no current on the south.
This island is covered with willows and extends about
two miles, there being a small creek coming in from
the south at its lower extremity. After making twelve
miles we encamped on the south, at the upper part of
a bluff containing stone-coal of an inferior quality;
immediately below this bluff and on the declivity of
a hill, are the remains of a village covering six or
eight acres, formerly occupied by the Mandans, who,
says our Ricara chief, once lived in a number of villages
on each side of the river, till the Sioux forced them
forty miles higher; whence after a few years residence,
they moved to their present position. The country through,
which we passed has wider bottoms and more timber than
those we have been accustomed to see, the hills rising
at a distance and by gradual ascents. We have seen great
numbers of elk, deer, [113]goats, and buffalo, and the
usual attendants of these last, the wolves, who follow
their movements and feed upon those who die by accident,
or who are too poor to keep pace with the herd; we also
wounded a white bear, and saw some fresh tracks of those
animals which are twice as large as the track of a man.
October
21, 1804
Sunday 21.
Last night the weather was cold, the wind high from
the northeast, and the rain which fell froze on the
ground. At daylight it began to snow, and continued
till the afternoon, when it remained cloudy and the
ground was covered with snow. We however, set out early,
and just above our camp came to a creek on the south,
called Chisshetaw, about thirty yards wide and with
a considerable quantity of water. Our Ricara chief tells
us, that at some distance up this river is situated
a large rock which is held in great veneration, and
visited by parties who go to consult it as to their
own or their nations' destinies, all of which they discern
in some sort of figures or paintings with which it is
covered. About two miles off from the mouth of the river
the party on shore saw another of the objects of Ricara
superstition: it is a large oak tree, standing alone
in the open prairie, and as it alone has withstood the
fire which has consumed every thing around, the Indians
naturally ascribe to it extraordinary powers. One of
their ceremonies is to make a hole in the skin of their
necks through which a string is passed and the other
end tied to the body of the tree; and after remaining
in this way for some time they think they become braver.
At two miles a from our encampment we came to the ruins
of a second Mandan village, which was in existence at
the same time with that just mentioned. It is situated
on the north at the foot of a hill in a beautiful and
extensive plain, which is now covered with herds of
buffalo: nearly opposite are remains of a third village
on the south of the Missouri; and there is another also
about two miles further on the north, a little off the
river. At the distance of seven miles we encamped on
the south, and spent [114]a cold night. We procured
to-day a buffalo and an otter only. The river is wide
and the sandbars numerous, and a low island near our
encampment.
October
22, 1804
Monday 22.
In the morning we passed an old Mandan village on the
south, near our camp; at four miles another on the same
side. About seven o'clock we came to at a camp of eleven
Sioux of the Teton tribe, who are almost perfectly naked,
having only a piece of skin or cloth round the middle,
though we are suffering from the cold. From their appearance,
which is warlike, and from their giving two different
accounts of themselves, we believe that they are either
going to or returning from the Mandans, to which nations
the Sioux frequently make excursions to steal horses.
As their conduct displeased as, we gave them nothing.
At six we reached an island about one mile in length,
at the head of which is a Mandan village on the north
in ruins, and two miles beyond a bad sandbar. At eight
miles are remains of another Mandan village on the south;
and at twelve miles encamped on the south. The hunters
brought in a buffalo bull, and mentioned that of about
three hundred which they had seen, there was not a single
female. The beaver is here in plenty, and the two Frenchmen
who are returning with us catch several every night.
These villages which are nine in number are scattered
along each side of the river within a space of twenty
miles; almost all that remains of them is the wall which
surrounded them, the fallen heaps of earth which covered
the houses, and occasionally human skulls and the teeth
and bones of men, and different animals, which are scattered
on the surface of the ground.
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