Lewis: August 1, 1805

August 1st 1805 At half after 8 A.M. we halted for breakfast and as had
been previously agreed on between Capt. Clark and myself I set out with 3
men in quest of the Snake Indians. the men I took were the two
Interpreters Drewyer and Sharbono and Sergt. Gass who by an accedental
fall had so disabled himself that it was with much pain he could work in
the canoes tho he could march with convenience. the rout we took lay over
a rough high range of mountains on the North side of the river. the rive
entered these mountains a few miles above where we left it. Capt Clark
recommended this rout to me from a belief that the river as soon as it
past the mountains boar to the N. of W. he having a few days before
ascended these mountains to a position from which he discovered a large
valley passing betwen the mountains and which boar to the N. West. this
however poved to be the inlet of a large creek which discharged itself
into the river just above this range of mountans, the river bearing to the
S. W. we were therefore thrown several miles out of our rout. as soon as
we discovered our mistake we directed our course to the river which we at
length gained about 2 P.M. much exhausted by the heat of the day the
roughnes of the road and the want of water. the mountains are extreemly
bare of timber and our rout lay through the steep valleys exposed to the
heat of the sun without shade and scarcely a breath of air; and to add to
my fatiegue in this walk of about 11 miles I had taken a doze of glauber
salts in the morning in consequence of a slight desentary with which I had
been afflicted for several days; being weakened by the disorder and the
opperation of the medecine I found myself almost exhausted before we
reached the river. I felt my sperits much revived on our near approach to
the river at the sight of a herd of Elk of which Drewyer and myself killed
two. we then hurried to the river and allayed our thirst. I ordered two of
the men to skin the Elk and bring the meat to the river while myself and
the other prepared a fire and cooked some of the meat for our dinner. we
made a comfortable meal of the Elk and left the ballance of the meat on
the bank of the river the party with Capt. Clark. this supply was no doubt
very acceptable to them as they had had no fresh meat for near two days
except one beaver Game being very scarce and shy. we had seen a few deer
and some goats but had not been fortunate enough to kill any of them.
after dinner we resumed our march and encamped about 6 m. above on the
Stard side of the river.

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Thursday August 1st 1805. This morning we set out early and proceeded on
tolerably well untill 8 OCT. by which time we had arrived within a few
miles of a mountain through which the river passes. we halted on the
Stard. side and took breakfast. after which or at 1/2 after 8 A.M. as had
been previously concerted betwen Capt. Clark and myself I set out with
three men in surch of the Snake Indians or Sosonees. our rout lay over a
high range of mountains on the North side of the river. Capt C.
recommended this rout to me no doubt from a beleif that the river as soon
as it passed this chain of mountains boar to the N. of W. he having on the
26th ult. ascended these mountains to a position from whence he discoved a
large valley passing between the mountains which boar to the N. W. and
presumed that the river passed in that direction; this however proved to
be the passage of a large creek which discharged itself into the river
just above this range of mountains, the river bearing to the S. W. we were
therefore thrown several miles out of our rout. as soon as we discovered
our error we directed our course to the river which we at length gained
about 2 P.M. much exhausted by the heat of the day, the roughness of the
road and the want of water. the mountains are extreemly bare of timber,
and our rout lay through the steep and narrow hollows of the mountains
exposed to the intese heat of the midday sun without shade or scarcely a
breath of air to add to my fatiegue in this walk of about 11 miles, I had
taken a doze of glauber salts in the morning in consequence of a slight
disentary with which I had been afflicted for several days. being weakened
by the disorder and the operation of the medicine I found myself almost
exhausted before we reached the river. I felt my sperits much revived on
our near approach to the river at the sight of a herd of Elk, of which
Drewyer and myself soon killed a couple. we then hurryed to the river and
allayed our thirst. I ordered two of the men to skin the Elk and bring the
meat to the river, while myself and the other prepared a fire and cooked
some of the meat for our dinner. we made a comfortable meal on the Elk,
and left the ballance of the meat and skins on the bank of the river for
Capt. Clark and party. this supply will no doubt be acceptable to them, as
they had had no fresh meat when I left them for almost 2 days except one
beaver; game being very scarce and shy above the forks. we had seen a few
deer and antelopes but had not been fortunate enough to kill any of them.
as I passed these mountains I saw a flock of the black or dark brown
phesants; the young phesant is almost grown we killed one of them. this
bird is fully a third larger than the common phesant of the Atlantic
states. it’s form is much the same. it is booted nearly to the toes and
the male has not the tufts of long black feathers on the sides of the neck
which are so conspicuous in those of the Atlantic. their colour is a
uniform dark brown with a small mixture of yellow or yelloish brown specks
on some of the feathers particularly those of the tail, tho the
extremities of these are perfectly black for about one inch. the eye is
nearly black, the iris has a small dash of yellowish brown. the feathers
of the tail are reather longer than that of our phesant or pattridge as
they are Called in the Eastern States; are the same in number or eighteen
and all nearly of the same length, those in the intermediate part being
somewhat longest. the flesh of this bird is white and agreeably flavored.
I also saw near the top of the mountain among some scattering pine a blue
bird about the size of the common robbin. it’s action and form is somewhat
that of the jay bird and never rests long in any one position but
constantly flying or hoping from sprey to sprey. I shot at one of them but
missed it. their note is loud and frequently repeated both flying and when
at rest and is char ah’, char’ah, char ah’, as nearly as letters can
express it. after dinner we resumed our march and my pack felt much
lighter than it had done about 2 hours before. we traveled about six miles
further and encamped on the stard. bank of the river, making a distance of
17 miles for this day. the Musquetoes were troublesome but I had taken the
precaution of bringing my bier.

Shortly after I left Capt. Clark this morning he proceed on and passed
through the mountains; they formed tremendious clifts of ragged and nearly
perpendicular rocks; the lower.part of this rock is of the black grannite
before mentioned and the upper part a light coloured freestone. these
clifts continue for 9 miles and approach the river very closely on either
side. he found the current verry strong. Capt. C. killed a big horn on
these clifts which himself and party dined on. after passing this range of
mountains he entered this beautifull valley in which we also were it is
from 6 to 8 miles wide. the river is crooked and crouded with islands,
it’s bottoms wide fertile and covered with fine grass from 9 inches to 2
feet high and possesses but a scant proportion of timber, which consists
almost entirely of a few narrow leafed cottonwood trees distributed along
the verge of the river. in the evening Capt. C. found the Elk I had left
him and ascended a short distance above to the entrance of a large creek
which falls in on Stard. and encamped opposite to it on the Lard. side. he
sent out the two Fieldses to hunt this evening and they killed 5 deer,
which with the Elk again gave them a plentifull store of fresh provisions.
this large creek we called Field’s Creek after Reubin Fields one our
party. on the river about the mountains wich Capt. C. passed today he saw
some large cedar trees and some juniper also just at the upper side of the
mountain there is a bad rappid here the toe line of our canoe broke in the
shoot of the rapids and swung on the rocks and had very nearly overset. a
small distance above this rapid a large bold Creek falls in on Lard. side
which we called Frazier’s Creek after Robt. Frazier. They saw a large
brown bear feeding on currants but could not get a shoot at him.