Clark: July 16, 1805

July 16th Tuesday 1805 a fair morning after a verry cold night, heavy dew,
dispatched one man back for an ax left a fiew miles below, and Set out
early Killed a Buffalow on which we Brackfast Capt Lewis & 3 men went
on to the mountain to take a meridian altitude, passed about 40 Small
Camps, which appeared to be abandoned about 10 or 12 days, Suppose they
were Snake Indians, a fiew miles above I Saw the poles Standing in thir
position of a verry large lodge of 60 feet Diamater, & the appearance
of a number of Leather Lodges about, this Sign was old & appeared to
have been last fall great number of buffalow the river is not So wide as
below from 100 to 150 yards wide & Deep Crouded with Islands &
Crooked Some Scattering timber on its edge Such as Cotton wood Cotton
willow, willow and box elder, the Srubs are arrow wod, red wood, Choke
Cherry, red berries, Goose beries, Sarvis burey, red & yellow Currents
a Spcie of Shomake &c.

I camped on the head of a Small Island near the Stard. Shore at the Rockey
Mountains this Range of mountains appears to run N W & S E and is
about 800 feet higher than the Water in the river faced with a hard black
rock the current of the River from the Medison river to the mountain is
gentle bottoms low and extensive, and its General Course is S. 10° W.
about 30 miles on a direct line