Lewis: August 8, 1805

Thursday August 8th 1805. We had a heavy dew this morning. as one canoe
had been left we had now more hads to spear for the chase; game being
scarce it requires more hunters to supply us. we therefore dispatched four
this morning. we set out at sunrise and continued our rout up the river
which we find much more gentle and deep than below the entrance of Wisdom
river it is from 35 to 45 yards wide very crooked many short bends
constituteing large and general bends; insomuch that altho we travel
briskly and a considerable distance yet it takes us only a few miles on
our general course or rout. there is but very little timber on this fork
principally the under brush frequently mentioned. I observe a considerable
quantity of the buffaloe clover in the bottoms. the sunflower, flax, green
swoard, thistle and several species of the rye grass some of which rise to
the hight of 3 or 4 feet. there is a grass also with a soft smooth leaf
that bears it’s seeds very much like the timothy but it dose not grow very
luxouriant or appear as if it would answer so well as the common timothy
for meadows. I preserved some of it’s seeds which are now ripe, thinking
perhaps it might answer better if cultivated, at all events is at least
worth the experi-ment. it rises about 3 feet high. on a direct line about
2 miles above our encampment of this morning we passed the entrance of
Philanthrophy River which discharges itself by 2 channels a small distance
assunder. this river from it’s size and S. Eastwardly course no doubt
heads with Madisons river in the snowey mountains visible in that
direction. at Noon Reubin Fields arrived and reported that he had been up
Wisdom river some miles above where it entered the mountain and could find
nothing of Shannon, he had killed a deer and an Antelope. great quantity
of beaver Otter and musk-rats in these rivers. two of the hunters we sent
out this morning returned at noon had killed each a deer and an Antelope.
we use the seting poles today almost altogether. we encamped on the Lard
sides where there was but little timber were obliged to use willow brush
for fuel; the rosebushes and bryers were very thick. the hunters brought
in another deer this evening. to tumor on Capt. Clarks ankle has
discharged a considerable quantity of matter but is still much swolen and
inflamed and gives him considerable pain. saw a number of Gees ducks and
some Crains today. the former begin to fly.

the evening again proved cloudy much to my mortification and prevented my
making any lunar observations. the Indian woman recognized the point of a
high plain to our right which she informed us was not very distant from
the summer retreat of her nation on a river beyond the mountains which
runs to the west. this hill she says her nation calls the beaver’s head
from a conceived remblance of it’s figure to the head of that animal. she
assures us that we shall either find her people on this river or on the
river immediately west of it’s source; which from it’s present size cannot
be very distant. as it is now all important with us to meet with those
people as soon as possible, I determined to proceed tomorrow with a small
party to the source of the principal stream of this river and pass the
mountains to the Columbia; and down that river untill I found the Indians;
in short it is my resolusion to find them or some others, who have horses
if it should cause me a trip of one month. for without horses we shall be
obliged to leave a great part of our stores, of which, it appears to me
that we have a stock already sufficiently small for the length of the
voyage before us.