Lewis: May 22, 1806

Thursday May 22ed 1806. A fine morning we exposed all our baggage to air
and dry as well as our store of roots and bread purchased from the
natives. permited Windsor and McNeal to go to the indian village. Sergt.
Ordway and Goodrich returned this morning with a good store of roots and
bread. about noon 2 indian men came down the river on a raft and continued
at our camp about 3 hours and returned to their village. we.sent out
Shannon and Colter to hunt towards the mountains. we sent Sergt. Pryor
down to the entrance of Collins’s Creek to examine the country and look
out for a good position for an encampment on the river below that Creek,
having determined to remove our camp below that crek if it continues high,
as soon as we have completed our canoe, as the country to which we are
confined to hunt at present is limited by this creek and river to a very
narrow tract, and game have already become scarce. if we can obtain a good
situation below the entrance of this creek it will be much more eligible
as the hunting country is more extensive and game more abundant than
above. The horse which the indians have given us to kill was driven away
yesterday by the natives with a gang of their horses I presume in mistake;
being without meat at noon we directed one of the largest of our colts to
be killed. we found the flesh of this animal fat tender and by no means
illy flavoured. we have three others which we mean to reserve for the
rocky mountains if we can subsist here without them. my horse which was
castrated the day before yesterday wounded his thigh on the inner side
with the rope by which he was confined that evening and is now so much
swolen with the wound the castraiting and the collection of vermen that he
cannot walk, in short he is the most wretched specticle; I had his wounds
clensed of the vermen by washing them well with a strong decoction of the
bark of the roots & leaves of elder but think the chances are against
his recovery. at 3 P.M. we observed a large party of Indians on horseback
in pursuit of a deer which they ran into the river opposite to our camp;
Capt. C. Myself & three of our men shot and killed the deer in the
water; the indians pursued it on a raft and caught it. it is astonishing
to see these people ride down those steep hills which they do at full
speed. on our return to camp we found Drewyer the Two Feildses Gibson and
Sheilds just arrived with five deer which they had killed at a
considerable distance towards the mountains. they also brought with them
two red salmon trout which they had purchased from some indians whom they
had met with on their return to camp.Two Indians who were just
arrived at our camp informed us that these salmon trout remained in this
river the greater part of the winter, that they were not good at this
season which we readily discovered, they were very meagre. these indians
also informed us that there were at this time a great number of salmon at
no great distance from hence in Lewis’s river which had just arrived and
were very fat and fine, they said it would be some yet before they would
ascend this river as high as this place. a party of the natives on the
opposite shore informed those with us that a party of the Shoshones had
two nights past surrounded a lodge of their nation on the South side of
Lewis’s river, that the inhabitants having timely discovered the enimy
effected their retreat in the course of the night and escaped. Charbono’s
Child is very ill this evening; he is cuting teeth, and for several days
past has had a violent lax, which having suddonly stoped he was attacked
with a high fever and his neck and throat are much swolen this evening. we
gave him a doze of creem of tartar and flour of sulpher and applyed a
poltice of boiled onions to his neck as warm as he could well bear it.
Sergt. Pryor returned late in the evening and informed us that he had been
down the river eight miles and that the clifts set in so abruptly to the
river he could get no further without returning several miles back and
ascending the hills and that he had thought it best to return and ride
down tomorrow on the high plain as he believed the mouth of the creek was
a considerable distance. Drewyer who has been at the place informs us that
it is about 10 ms. and that there is no situation on the river for some
distance below this creek which can possibly answer our purposes.we
dryed our baggage &c perfectly and put it up.-