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The Journals
of Lewis and Clark: Dates December 6, 1804 - December
13, 1804
The following
excerpts are taken from entries of the Journals of Lewis
and Clark. Dates: December 6, 1804 - December 13, 1804
December
6, 1804
Thursday 6. The wind was violent from the north northwest
with some snow, the air keen and cold. At eight o'clock
A.M. the thermometer stood at ten degrees above 0, and
the river rose an inch and a half in the course of the
day.
December 7, 1804
Friday, December 7. The wind still continued
from the northwest and the day is very cold: Shahaka
the chief of the lower village came to apprise us that
the buffalo were near, and that his people were waiting
for us to join them in the chase: captain Clark with
fifteen men went out and found the Indians engaged in
killing the buffalo, the hunters mounted on horseback
and armed with bows and arrows encircle the herd, and
gradually drive them into a plain or an open place fit
for the movements of horse; they then ride in among
them, and singling out a buffalo, a female being preferred,
go as close as possible and wound her with arrows till
they think they have given the mortal stroke; when they
pursue another till the quiver is exhausted: if, which
rarely happens, the wounded buffalo attacks the hunter,
he evades his blow by the agility of his horse which
is trained for the combat with great dexterity.
When they have killed
the requisite number they collect their game, and the
squaws and attendants come up from the rear and skin
and dress the animals. Captain Clarke killed ten buffalo,
of which five only were brought to the fort, the rest
which could not be conveyed home being seized by the
Indians, among whom the custom is that whenever a buffalo
is found dead without an arrow or any particular mark,
he is the property of the finder; so that often a hunter
secures scarcely any of the game he kills if the arrow
happens to fall off: whatever is left out at night falls
to the share of the wolves, who are the constant and
numerous attendants of the buffalo. The river closed
opposite the fort last night, an inch and a half in
thickness. In the morning the thermometer stood at one
degree below 0. Three men were badly frostbitten in
consequence of their exposure.
December 8, 1804
Saturday 8. The thermometer stood at twelve degrees
below 0, that is at forty-two degrees below the freezing
[141]point: the wind was from the northwest. Captain
Lewis with fifteen men went out to hunt the buffalo;
great numbers of which darkened the prairies for a considerable
distance: they did not return till after dark, having
killed eight buffalo and one deer. The hunt was, however,
very fatiguing, as they were obliged to make a circuit
at the distance of more than seven miles; the cold too,
was so excessive that the air was filled with icy particles
resembling a fog, and the snow generally six or eight
inches deep and sometimes eighteen, in consequence of
which two of the party were hurt by falls, and several
had their feet frostbitten.
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