Lewis: August 3, 1805

August the 3rd 1805. Set out this morning at sunrise and continued our
rout through the valley on the Lard. side of the river. at eleven A.M.
Drewyer killed a doe and we halted and took breakfast. the mountains
continue high on either side of the valley, and are but skantily supplyed
with timber; small pine appears to be the prevalent growth. there is no
timber in the valley except a small quantity of the narrow leafed
cottonwood on the verge of the river. the underwood consists of the
narrowleafed or small willow, honeysuckle rosebushes, courant, goosbury
and service bury bushes allso a small quantity of a species of dwarf burch
the leaf of which, oval, deep green, finely indented and very small. we
encamped this evening after sunset having traveled by estimate 23 miles.
from the width and appearance of the valley at this place I concieved that
the river forked not far above me and therefore resolved the next morning
to examine the adjacent country more minutely.

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Saturday August 3rd 1805. Set out early this morning, or before sunrise;
still continued our march through the level valley on the lard. side of
the river. the valley much as yesterday only reather wider; I think it 12
Miles wide, tho the plains near the mountains rise higher and are more
broken with some scattering pine near the mountain. in the leaveler parts
of the plain and river bottoms which are very extensive there is no timber
except a scant proportion of cottonwood neat the river. the under wood
consists of the narrow leafed or small willow, the small honeysuckle,
rosebushes, currant, serviceberry, and goosbery bushes; also a small
species of berth in but small quantities the leaf which is oval finely,
indented, small and of a deep green colour. the stem is simple ascending
and branching, and seldom rises higher than 10 or 12 feet. the Mountains
continue high on either side of the valley, and are but scantily supplyed
with timber; small pine apears to be the prevalent growth; it is of the
pith kind, with a short leaf. at 11 A.M. Drewyer killed a doe and we
halted about 2 hours and breakfasted, and then continued our rout untill
night without halting, when we arrived at the river in a level bottom
which appeared to spread to greater extent than usual. from the appearance
of the timber I supposed that the river forked above us and resolved to
examine this part of the river minutely tomorrow. this evening we passed
through a high plain for about 8 miles covered with prickley pears and
bearded grass, tho we found this even better walking than the wide bottoms
of the river, which we passed in the evening; these altho apparently
level, from some cause which I know not, were formed into meriads of deep
holes as if rooted up by hogs these the grass covered so thick that it was
impossible to walk without the risk of falling down at every step. some
parts of these bottoms also possess excellent terf or peat, I beleive of
many feet deep. the mineral salts also frequently mentioned on the
Missouri we saw this evening in these uneven bottoms. we saw many deer,
Antelopes ducks, gees, some beaver and great appearance of their work.
also a small bird and the Curlooe as usual. we encamped on the river bank
on Lard. side having traveled by estimate 23 Miles. The fish of this part
of the river are trout and a species of scale fish of a white colour and a
remarkable small long mouth which one of our men inform us are the same
with the species called in the Eastern states bottlenose. the snowey
region of the mountains and for some distance below has no timber or
herbage of any kind; the timber is confined to the lower and middle
regions. Capt. Clark set out this morning as usual. he walked on shore a
small distance this morning and killed a deer. in the course of his walk
he saw a track which he supposed to be that of an Indian from the
circumstance of the large toes turning inward. he pursued the track and
found that the person had ascended a point of a hill from which his camp
of the last evening was visible; this circumstance also confirmed the
beleif of it’s being an Indian who had thus discovered them and ran off.
they found the river as usual much crouded with islands, the currant more
rapid & much more shallow than usual. in many places they were obliged
to double man the canoes and drag them over the stone and gravel. this
morning they passed a small creek on Stard. at the entrance of which
Reubin Fields killed a large Panther. we called the creek after that
animal Panther Creek. they also passed a handsome little stream on Lard.
which is form of several large springs which rise in the bottoms and along
the base of the mountains with some little rivulets from the melting
snows. the beaver have formed many large dams on this stream. they saw
some deer Antelopes and the common birds of the country. in the evening
they passed a very bad rappid where the bed of the river is formed entrely
of solid rock and encamped on an island just above. the Panther which
Fields killed measured seven and 1/2 feet from the nose to the extremity
of the tail. it is precisely the same animal common to the western part of
our country. the men wer compelled to be a great proportion of their time
in the water today; they have had a severe days labour and are much
fortiegued.