Clark: May 16, 1805

May 16th Thursday 1805 a fair morning our articles all out to Dry at 4
oClock we had every thing that was Saved dry and on bord, our loss is Some
medison, Powder, Seeds, & Several articles which Sunk, and maney
Spoiled had a medn. altitude which gave for Latd. ° ‘ ” N.two of
our men fired at a pant hr a little below our Camp, this animale they say
was large, had Caught a Deer & eate it half & buried the ballance.
a fiew antilope Swam the river near our Camp two of them were Cought by
the party in the river. at half past 4 oClock we Set out and proceeded on
verry well ____ miles and incamped on the Std. Side the Countrey as before
hilley & broken verry Small proprotion of timber in the points, Some
little pine & Ceader in the hills

Buffalow & Deer is yet plenty on the river in the small timbered
bottoms Capt Lewis walked out on the Std. Side and killed a Cow & Calf
the calf was verry fine their bases. it is somewhat singular that the
lower part of these hills appear to be formed of a dark rich loam while
the upper region about 150 feet is formed of a whiteish brown sand, so
hard in many parts as to resemble stone; but little rock or stone of any
kind to be seen in these hills. the river is much narrower than usual, the
bed from 200 to 300 yards only and possessing a much larger proportion of
gravel than usual. a few scattering cottonwood trees are the only timber
near the river; the sandbars, and with them the willow points have almost
entirely disappeared. greater appearance than usual of the saline
incrustations of the banks and river hills. we passed two creeks the one
on Stard. side, and the other just below our camp on the Lard. side; each
of these creeks afford a small quantity of runing water, of a brackish
tast. the great number of large beds of streams perfectly dry which we
daily pass indicate a country but badly watered, which I fear is the case
with the country through which we have been passing for the last fifteen
or twenty days. Capt Clark walked on shore this evening and killed an Elk;
buffaloe are not so abundant as they were some days past. the party with
me killed a female brown bear, she was but meagre, and appeared to have
suckled young very recently. Capt. Clark narrowly escaped being bitten by
a rattlesnake in the course of his walk, the party killed one this evening
at our encampment, which he informed me was similar to that he had seen;
this snake is smaller than those common to the middle Atlantic States,
being about 2 feet 6 inches long; it is of a yellowish brown colour on the
back and sides, variagated with one row of oval spots of a dark brown
colour lying transversely over the back from the neck to the tail, and two
other rows of small circular spots of the same colour which garnis the
sides along the edge of the scuta. it’s bely contains 176 scuta on the
belly and 17 on the tale. Capt Clark informed me that he saw some coal
which had been brought down by the water of the last creek we passed; this
creek also throws out considerable quantities of Driftwood, though there
is no timber on it which can be perceived from the Missouri; we called
this stream rattlesnake creek. Capt Clark saw an Indian fortifyed camp
this evening, which appeared to have been recently occupyed, from which we
concluded it was probable that it had been formed by a war party of the
Menetares who left their vilage in March last with a view to attack the
blackfoot Indians in consequence of their having killed some of their
principal warriors the previous autumn. we were roused late at night by
the Sergt. of the guard, and warned of the danger we were in from a large
tree that had taken fire and which leant immediately over our lodge. we
had the loge removed, and a few minutes after a large proportion of the
top of the tree fell on the place the lodge had stood; had we been a few
minutes later we should have been crushed to attoms. the wind blew so
hard, that notwithstanding the lodge was fifty paces distant from the fire
it sustained considerable injury from the burning coals which were thrown
on it; the party were much harrassed also by this fire which communicated
to a collection of fallen timber, and could not be extinguished.