Clark: May 13, 1805

13th of May Monday 1805 The wind Continued to blow hard untill one oClock
P M. to day at which time it fell a little and we Set out and proceeded on
verry well about 9 miles and Camped on the Lard Side. the countrey much
the Same appearance as yesterday but little timber in the bottoms; Some
Pine in places on the Stard. Hills. I killed two deer this evening one a
mule deer & the other a common Deer, the party killed Several this
morning all for the use of their Skins which are now good, one man Gibson
wounded a verry large brown bear, too late this evening to prosue him- We
passed two Creeks in a bend to the Lard Side neither them had any water,
are somewhat wider; passed some high black bluffs. saw immence herds of
buffaloe today also Elk deer wolves and Antelopes. passed three large
creeks one on the Stard. and two others on the Lard. side, neither of
which had any runing water. Capt Clark walked on shore and killed a very
fine buffaloe cow. I felt an inclination to eat some veal and walked on
shore and killed a very fine buffaloe calf and a large woolf, much the
whitest I had seen, it was quite as white as the wool of the common sheep.
one of the party wounded a brown bear very badly, but being alone did not
think proper to pursue him. In the evening the men in two of the rear
canoes discovered a large brown bear lying in the open grounds about 300
paces from the river, and six of them went out to attack him, all good
hunters; they took the advantage of a small eminence which concealed them
and got within 40 paces of him unperceived, two of them reserved their
fires as had been previously conscerted, the four others fired nearly at
the same time and put each his bullet through him, two of the balls passed
through the bulk of both lobes of his lungs, in an instant this monster
ran at them with open mouth, the two who had reserved their fires
discharged their pieces at him as he came towards them, boath of them
struck him, one only slightly and the other fortunately broke his
shoulder, this however only retarded his motion for a moment only, the men
unable to reload their guns took to flight, the bear pursued and had very
nearly overtaken them before they reached the river; two of the party
betook themselves to a canoe and the others seperated an concealed
themselves among the willows, reloaded their pieces, each discharged his
piece at him as they had an opportunity they struck him several times
again but the guns served only to direct the bear to them, in this manner
he pursued two of them seperately so close that they were obliged to throw
aside their guns and pouches and throw themselves into the river altho the
bank was nearly twenty feet perpendicular; so enraged was this anamal that
he plunged into the river only a few feet behind the second man he had
compelled take refuge in the water, when one of those who still remained
on shore shot him through the head and finally killed him; they then took
him on shore and butched him when they found eight balls had passed
through him in different directions; the bear being old the flesh was
indifferent, they therefore only took the skin and fleece, the latter made
us several gallons of oil; it was after the sun had set before these men
come up with us, where we had been halted by an occurrence, which I have
now to recappitulate, and which altho happily passed without ruinous
injury, I cannot recollect but with the utmost trepidation and horror;
this is the upseting and narrow escape of the white perogue It happened
unfortunately for us this evening that Charbono was at the helm of this
Perogue, in stead of Drewyer, who had previously steered her; Charbono
cannot swim and is perhaps the most timid waterman in the world; perhaps
it was equally unluckey that Capt. C. and myself were both on shore at
that moment, a circumstance which rarely happened; and tho we were on the
shore opposite to the perogue, were too far distant to be heard or to do
more than remain spectators of her fate; in this perogue ____ were
embarked, our papers, Instruments, books medicine, a great part of our
merchandize and in short almost every article indispensibly necessary to
further the views, or insure the success of the enterprize in which we are
now launched to the distance of 2200 miles. surfice it to say, that the
Perogue was under sail when a sudon squawl of wind struck her obliquely,
and turned her considerably, the steersman allarmed, in stead of puting
her before the wind, lufted her up into it, the wind was so violent that
it drew the brace of the squarsail out of the hand of the man who was
attending it, and instantly upset the perogue and would have turned her
completely topsaturva, had it not have been from the resistance mad by the
oarning against the water; in this situation Capt. C and myself both fired
our guns to attract the attention if possible of the crew and ordered the
halyards to be cut and the sail hawled in, but they did not hear us; such
was their confusion and consternation at this moment, that they suffered
the perogue to lye on her side for half a minute before they took the sail
in, the perogue then wrighted but had filled within an inch of the
gunwals; Charbono still crying to his god for mercy, had not yet
recollected the rudder, nor could the repeated orders of the Bowsman,
Cruzat, bring him to his recollection untill he threatend to shoot him
instantly if he did not take hold of the rudder and do his duty, the waves
by this time were runing very high, but the fortitude resolution and good
conduct of Cruzat saved her; he ordered 2 of the men to throw out the
water with some kettles that fortunately were convenient, while himself
and two others rowed her ashore, where she arrived scarcely above the
water; we now took every article out of her and lay them to drane as well
as we could for the evening, baled out the canoe and secured her; there
were two other men beside Charbono on board who could not swim, and who of
course must also have perished had the perogue gone to the bottom. while
the perogue lay on her side, finding I could not be heard, I for a moment
forgot my own situation, and involluntarily droped my gun, threw aside my
shot pouch and was in the act of unbuttoning my coat, before I recollected
the folly of the attempt I was about to make, which was to throw myself
into the river and indevour to swim to the perogue; the perogue was three
hundred yards distant the waves so high that a perogue could scarcely live
in any situation, the water excessively could, and the stream rappid; had
I undertaken this project therefore, there was a hundred to one but what I
should have paid the forfit of my life for the madness of my project, but
this had the perogue been lost, I should have valued but little.After
having all matters arranged for the evening as well as the nature of
circumstances would permit, we thought it a proper occasion to console
ourselves and cheer the sperits of our men and accordingly took a drink of
grog and gave each man a gill of sperits.