Lewis: May 6, 1805

Monday May 6th 1805. The morning being fair and pleasant and wind
favourable we set sale at an early hour, and proceeded on very well the
greater part of the day; the country still continues level fertile and
beautifull, the bottoms wide and well timbered comparitively speaking with
other parts of the river; no appearance of birnt hills pumice stone or
coal, the salts of tartar or vegitable salts continues to appear on the
river banks, sand bars and in many parts of the plains most generally in
the little revines at the base of the low hills. passed three streames
today which discharged themselves on the Lard. side; the first of these we
call little dry creek it contained some water in standing pools but
discharged none, the 2ed 50 yards wide no Water, we called it Big dry
Creek, the 3rd is bed of a conspicuous river 200 yards wide which we
called little dry river; the banks of these streams are low and bottoms
wide with but little timber, their beds are almost entirely formed of a
fine brown sand intermixed with a small proportion of little pebbles,
which were either transparent, white, green, red, yellow or brown. these
streams appeared to continue their width without diminution as far as we
could perceive them, which with rispect to the river was many miles, they
had recenly discharged their waters. from the appearance of these streams,
and the country through which they passed, we concluded that they had
their souces in level low dry plains, which probably is the character of
the country for a great distance west of this, or to the vicinity of the
black hills, that the country being low on the same level nearly and in
the same parallel of latitude, that the rains in the spring of the year
suddonly melts the snow at the same time and causes for a few days a vast
quantity of water which finds it’s way to the Missouri through those
channels; by reference to the diary of the weather &c it will be
percieved that there is scarcely any rain during the summer Autumn and
winter in this open country distant from the mountains. Fields still
continues unwell. saw a brown bear swim the river above us, he disappeared
before we can get in reach of him; I find that the curiossity of our party
is pretty well satisfyed with rispect to this anamal, the formidable
appearance of the male bear killed on the 5th added to the difficulty with
which they die when even shot through the vital parts, has staggered the
resolution several of them, others however seem keen for action with the
bear; I expect these gentlemen will give us some amusement shotly as they
soon begin now to coppolate. saw a great quantity of game of every species
common here. Capt Clark walked on shore and killed two Elk, they were not
in very good order, we therefore took a part of the meat only; it is now
only amusement for Capt. C. and myself to kill as much meat as the party
can consum; I hope it may continue thus through our whole rout, but this I
do not much expect. two beaver were taken in traps this morning and one
since shot by one of the party. saw numbers of these anamals peeping at us
as we passed out of their wholes which they form of a cilindric shape, by
burrowing in the face of the abbrupt banks of the river.