Clark: May 31, 1805
May 31st Friday 1805. A cloudy morning we dispatched all the Canoes to
Collect the meat of 2 Buffalow killed last night a head and a little off
the river, and proceeded on with the perogues at an early hour. I
attempted to walk on Shore Soon found it verry laborious as the mud Stuck
to my mockersons & was verry Slippery. I return’d on board. it
continued to rain moderately untill about 12 oClock when it ceased, &
Continued Cloudy. the Stone on the edge of the river continue to form
verry Considerable rapids, which are troublesom & dificuelt to pass,
our toe rope which we are obliged to make use of altogether broke & we
were in Some danger of turning over in the perogue in which I was, we
landed at 12 and refreshed the men with a dram, our men are obliged to
under go great labour and fatigue in assending this part of the Missouri,
as they are compelled from the rapidity of the Current in many places to
walk in the water & on Slippery hill Sides or the Sides of rocks, on
Gravel & thro a Stiff mud bear footed, as they Cannot keep on
Mockersons from the Stiffness of the mud & decline of the Slipy. hills
Sidesthe Hills and river Clifts of this day exhibit a most
romantick appearance on each Side of the river is a white Soft Sand Stone
bluff which rises to about half the hight of the hills, on the top of this
Clift is a black earth on points, in maney places this Sand Stone appears
like antient ruins some like elegant buildings at a distance, Some like
Towers &c. &c. in maney places of this days march we observe on
either Side of the river extraodanary walls of a black Semented Stone
which appear to be regularly placed one Stone on the other, Some of those
walls run to the hite of 100 feet, they are from about 1 foot to 12 feet
thick and are perpendicular, those walls Commence at the waters edge &
in Some places meet at right anglesthose walls appear to Continue
their Course into the Sand Clifts, the Stones which form those walls are
of different Sizes all Squar edged, Great numbers has fallen off from the
walls near the river which cause the walls to be of uneaquil hite, in the
evening the Countrey becomes lower and the bottoms wider, no timber on the
uplands, except a few Cedar & pine on the Clifts a few Scattering
Cotton trees on the points in the river bottoms, The apparance of Coal
Continus Capt Lewis walked on Shore & observed a Species of Pine we
had never before Seen, with a Shorter leaf than Common & the bur
different, he also Collected Some of the Stone off one of the walls which
appears to be a Sement of Isin glass black earth we Camped on the Stard
Side in a Small timbered bottom above the mouth of a Creek on the Stard
Side our hunters killed, 2 animals with big horns, 2 Buffalow & an
Elk, we Saw Great numbers of those big horned animals on the Clifts, but
fiew Buffalow or Elk, no antelope, a fiew mule deer, Saw a fox to day. The
river rises a little it is from 150 to 250 yds. wide
—
May 31st Friday 1805 Cloudy morning, we proceeded on at an early hour with
the two Perogues leaving the Canoes and crews to bring on the meat of two
Buffalow that were killed last evening and which had not been brought in
as it was late and a little off the river. Soon after we got under way it
began to rain and Continued untill 12 oClock when it Seased but Still
remained cloudy through the ballance of the day. the obstructions of rocky
points and riffles Still continue as yesterday; at those places the men
are compelled to be in the water even to their armpits, and the water is
yet very cold, and So frequent are those points that they are one fourth
of their time in the water. added to this the bank and bluff along which
they are obliged to pass are So Slippery and the mud So tenatious that
they are unable to bare their mockersons, and in that Situation dragging
the heavy burthen of a Canoe and Walking occasionally for Several hundred
yards over the Sharp fragments of rocks which tumble from the Clifts; and
in Short their labour is incredibly painfull and great, yet those
faithfull fellows bear it without a murmer.
The toe rope of the white perogue, the only one indeed of hemp, and that
on which we most depended, gave way to day at a bad point, the perogue
Swong and but slightly touched a rock, yet was very near oversetting; I
fear her evil Ginnie will play So many pranks with her that She will go to
the bottom Some of those days.
I attempted to walk on Shore this morning but found it so excessivily bad
that I Soon returned on board. at 12 oClock we came too for refreshment
and gave the men a dram which they received with much Chearfulness, and
well deserved all wet and disagreeable. Capt. Lewis walked on Shore, he
informed one that he Saw “the most butifull fox in the world” the Colour
appeared to him to be of a fine Orrange yellow, white and black, he fired
at this fox running and missed him, he appeared to be about the size of
the common red fox of the united States, or rather smaller.
The hills and river clifts which we pass to day exhibit a most romantic
appearance. The Bluffs of the river rise to the hight of from 2 to 300
feet and in most places nearly perpendicular; they are formed of
remarkable white Sandstone which is Sufficiently Soft to give way readily
to the impression of water; two or three thin horizontal Stratas of white
free Stone, on which the rains or water make no impression, lie imbeded in
those clifts of Soft Stone near the upper part of them; the earth on the
top of these clifts is a dark rich loam, which forming a gradual ascending
plain extend back from 1/2 a mile to a mile where the hills commence and
rise abruptly to the hight of about 300 feet more. The water in the Course
of time acecending from those hills and plains on either Side of the river
has trickled down the Soft Sand Clifts and woarn it into a thousand
grotesque figures; which with the help of a little imagination and an
oblique view at a distance are made to represent elegant ranges of lofty
freestone buildings, haveing their parapets well Stocked with Statuary;
Colloms of various Sculptures both Grooved and plain, are also Seen
Supporting long galleries in part of those buildings; in other places on a
much nearer approach and with the with the help of less immagination we
See the remains of ruins of eligant buildings; Some Collumns Standing and
almost entire with their pedestals and Capitals, others retaining their
pedestals but deprived by time or accedint of their capitals, Some lying
prostrate and broken, others in the form of vast Pyramids of connic
Structure bearing a Serious of other pyramids on their tops becomeing less
as they ascend and finally termonateing in a Sharp point. nitches and
alcoves of various forms and Sizes are Seen at different hights as we
pass. a number of the Small martin which build their nests with Clay of a
globular form attached to the wall within those nitches, and which were
Seen hovering about the top of the collumns did not the less remind us of
Some of those large Stone buildings in the United States. The thin Stratas
of hard free Stone intermixed with the Soft Sand Stone Seems to have aided
the water in forming this Curious Scenery.
as we passed on it Seemed as if those Seens of Visionary enchantment would
never have an end; for here it is too that nature presents to the view of
the traveler vast ranges of walls of tolerable workmanship, So perfect
indeed are those walls that I Should have thought that nature had
attempted here to rival the human art of Masonry had I not recollected
that She had first began her work. These walls rise to the hight in many
places of 100 feet, are perpindicular, with two regular faces, and are
from one to 12 feet thick, each wall retains the Same thickness to the top
which it possesses at bottom. The Stone of which these walls are formed is
black, dense and dureable, and appears to be Composed of a large portion
of earth intermixed or Cemented with a Small quantity of Sand and a
Considerable portion of quarts. these Stones are almost invariably regular
parallelepipeds, of unequal Sizes in the wall, but equal in their
horizontal ranges, at least as to debth. These are laid regularly in
ranges on each other like bricks, each breaking or covering this
interstice of the two on which it rests, thus the pirpendicular
interstices are broken, and the horizontal ones extend entire throughout
the whole extent of the walls. These Stones Seam to bear Some proportion
to the thickness of the walls in which they are employd, being larger in
the thicker walls; the greatest length of the parallelepiped appear to
form the thickness of the thiner walls, while two or more are employed to
form that of the thicker walls. Those walls pass the river in Several
places rising from the waters edge much above the Sand Stone Bluffs, which
they Seam to penetrate; thence Continueing their course on a Streight line
on either Side of the river thorough the gradually ascending plains over
which they tower to the hight of from ten to 90 feet untill they reach the
hills which they finally enter and Conceal themselves. these walls
Sometimes run parallel to each other, with Several ranges near each other,
and at other times intersecting each other at right angles, haveing the
appearance of the walls of ancient houses or gardins. both Capt Lewis and
My self walked on Shore this evening and examined those walls minutely and
preserved a Specimine of the Stone.I found many clifts of very
excellent free Stone of a light yellowish brown Colour. Capt. Lewis
observed a Species of pine which I had never Seen, it differs from the
pitch pine in the particular of its leaf and Cone, the first being partly
Shorter, and the latter considerably longer and more pointed. The
appearance of Coal Continues but in Smaller quantities, but little
appearance of burnt hills or pumicestone. the mineral Salt in Some measure
have abated and no quarts. we Saw a great number of the Big Horn, Some
mule deer, and a few Buffalow and Elk, no antelopes or Common Deer-. Capt.
Lewis killed a Big horn animal. the party killed 2 Buffalow one Elk and a
Big horn or Ibex to day-. The river has been from 150 to 250 yards wide
but little timber on the river to day. river less muddy than it was below.
