Lewis: May 27, 1805

Monday May 27th 1805. The wind blew so hard this morning that we did not
sent out untill 10 A.M. we employed the chord most of the day; the river
becomes more rappid and is intercepted by shoals and a greater number of
rocky points at the mouths of the little gulies than we experienced
yesterday. the bluffs are very high steep rugged, containing considerable
quantities of stone and border the river closely on both sides; once
perhaps in the course of several miles there will be a few acres of
tolerably level land in which two or thre impoverished cottonwood trees
will be seen. great quantities of stone also lye in the river and garnish
it’s borders, which appears to have tumbled from the bluffs where the
rains had washed away the sand and clay in which they were imbeded. the
bluffs are composed of irregular tho horizontal stratas of yellow and
brown or black clay, brown and yellowish white sand, of soft yellowish
white sand stone and a hard dark brown free stone, also of large round
kidneyformed and irregular seperate masses of a hard black Iron stone,
which is imbeded in the Clay and sand. some little pine spruce and dwarf
cedar on the hills. some coal or carbonated wood still makes it’s
appearance in these bluffs, pumicestone and birnt hills it’s concommutants
also are seen. the salts and quarts are seen but not in such abundance.
the country more broken and barren than yesterday if possible. about
midday it was very warm to this the high bluffs and narrow channel of the
river no doubt contributed greatly. we passed a small untimbered Island
this morning on the Lard. side of the river just above our encampment of
last evening. saw a few small herds of the Bighorned anamals and two Elk
only, of the last we killed one, the river is generally about 200 yds.
wide, very rappid and has a perceptable fall or declination through it’s
whole course.

This evening we encamped, for the benefit of wood, near two dead toped
cottonwood trees on the Lard. side; the dead limbs which had fallen from
these trees furnished us with a scanty supply only, and more was not to be
obtained in the neighbourhood.-