The Essential Lewis and Clark

1

AUGUST 30 TO SEPTEMBER 18, 1803

PITTSBURGH TO WOOD RIVER

August 30, 1803 [Lewis]

Left Pittsburgh this day at 11 o’clock with a party of 11 hands, 7 of which are soldiers, a pilot and three young men on trial, they having proposed to go with me throughout the voyage. Arrived at Bruno’s Island three miles below, halted a few minutes. Went on shore and being invited by some of the gentlemen present to try my air gun which I had purchased brought it on shore, charged it, and fired myself seven times 55 yards with pretty good success. After which a Mr. Blaze Cenas, being unacquainted with the management of the gun, suffered her to discharge herself accidentally. The ball passed through the hat of a woman about 40 yards distant, cutting her temple about the fourth of the diameter of the ball. She fell instantly and the blood gushing from her temple, we were all in the greatest consternation and supposed she was dead. But in a minute she revived, to our inexpressible satisfaction, and by examination we found the wound by no means mortal or even dangerous.

Called the hands aboard and proceeded to a ripple of McKee’s Rock where we were obliged to get out, all hands, and lift the boat over about 30 yards. The river is extremely low, said to be more so than it has been known for four years. About [blank] we passed another ripple near [word missing]. Passed another bar or ripple with more difficulty than either of the others. Halted for the night much fatigued after laboring with my men all day. The water being sufficiently temperate was much in our favor. Gave my men some whiskey and retired to rest at 8 o’clock.

Air guns work by compressed air and are not as powerful as guns fired with explosives. Lewis used this particular gun to impress Indians all through the journey. They were astonished by it. No one is entirely sure who the men were that Lewis had with him on this portion of the trip.

September 1, 1803 [Lewis]

The pilot informed me that we were not far from a ripple which was much worse than any we had yet passed, and as there was so thick a fog on the face of the water that no object was visible beyond 40 paces he advised remaining until the sun should acquire a greater altitude, when the fog would ascend and disappear. I consented. We remained until eight o’clock this morning, when we again set out. These fogs are very common on the Ohio at this season of the year, as also in the spring, but I do not think them as frequent or thick in the spring. Perhaps this may in some measure assist us to account for the heavy dews which are more remarkable for their frequency and quantity than in any country I was ever in. They are so heavy the drops falling from the trees from about midnight until sunrise give you the idea of a constant gentle rain. This continues until the sun has acquired sufficient altitude to dissipate the fog by its influence, and it then ceases. The dews are likewise more heavy during summer than elsewhere, but not so much so as at this season. The fog appears to owe its origin to the difference of temperature between the air and water, the latter at this season being much warmer than the former. The water being heated by the summer’s sun does not undergo so rapid a change from the absence of the sun as the air does. Consequently when the air becomes most cool, which is about sunrise, the fog is thickest and appears to rise from the face of the water like the steam from boiling water.

We passed the Little Horsetail ripple or riffle with much difficulty, all hands labored in the water about two hours before we effected a passage. The next obstruction we met with was the Big Horsetail riffle. Here we were obliged to unload all our goods and lift the empty boat over. About five o’clock we reached the riffle called Woolery’s Trap. Here, after unloading again and exerting all our force, we found it impracticable to get over. I therefore employed a man with a team of oxen, with the assistance of which we at length got off. We put in and remained all night, having made only ten miles this day.

September 2, 1803 [Lewis]

Set out at sunrise, two miles and a half to a riffle. Got out and pulled the boat over it with some difficulty. At nine o’clock reached Logtown Riffle, unloaded and with much difficulty got over. Detained four hours. The hills on either side of the Ohio are from 3 to 400 feet which, running parallel to each other, keep the general course of the river, at the distance of about two miles [i.e., the valley is about two miles wide], while the river pursuing a serpentine course between them alternately washes their bases, thus leaving fine bottomland between itself and the hills in large bodies, and frequently in the form of a semicircle or the larger segment of a circle or horseshoe form. The weather is extremely dry but there was some appearance of rain this morning which seems now to have blown over. I supposed I had gotten over Logtown Riffle but found ourselves stranded again. Supposed it best to send out two or three men to engage some oxen or horses to assist us. Obtained one horse and an ox, which enabled us very readily to get over. Paid the man his charge, which was one dollar. The inhabitants who live near these riffles live much by the distressed situation of travelers, are generally lazy, charge extravagantly when they are called on for assistance, and have no philanthropy or conscience. Passed the mouth of two little creeks to the north, called Allfour’s and a riffle ahead. The boat rubbed for some distance but by getting out and pulling her on by the thwarts we got her over. On each side of the river there are three banks, or sudden rises, from the summits of which the land generally breaks off for a certain distance pretty level until it arrives at the high hills before mentioned which appear to give a direction to the river. The first bank, or that which the river washes, is generally from 20 to 25 feet, and the bottom lying on a level with this is only overflown in remarkable high floods. The consequence is that there is no drowned or marsh lands on this river. This bottom, which is certainly the richest land from its being liable sometimes to be overflowed, is not esteemed so valuable as the second bottom. The second bottom usually rises from 25 to 30 feet above the first and is always safe or secure from inundation. It is usually good when wide from the third bank and contrary when the bottom is narrow or the river breaks against the second near the third bank, which it sometimes does. What is called the third bottom is more properly the high benches of the large range of hills before noticed and is of a more varied description as well as it respects the fertility of its soil as shape and perpendicular height. The river sometimes but very seldom breaks against this bank. The second and third of these banks always run parallel with the high hills and that bordering on the river is of course shaped by it.

Passed Waller’s Riffle with but little difficulty. Thermometer stood at seventy-six in the cabin; the temperature of the water in the river when immersed about the same. Observed today the leaves of the buckeye, gum, and sassafras begin to fade, or become red.

September 3, 1803 [Lewis]

Very foggy this morning. Thermometer 63° Fahrenheit, immersed the thermometer in the river, and the mercury rose immediately to 75° or summer heat. So there is a 12° difference, which is sufficient to show the vapor which arises from the water. The fog thus produced is impenetrably thick at this moment. We were in consequence obliged to lie by until nine this morning. Mr. Gus Bryan arrived with two boats loaded with furs. He informs me that if I can reach and get over the Georgetown bar 24 miles I can get on; this is some consolation. We set out at nine this morning and passed a riffle just below us called Atkins’s. Got over with tolerable ease. Passed the mouth of Big Beaver Creek and came to anchor off McIntosh, being 2 and a half miles. Discharged one of my hands. Passed the riffle below McIntosh. About three miles from this we stuck on another riffle, the worst I think we have yet passed. Were obliged to unload and drag over with horses. Stayed all night, having made only six miles.

September 4, 1803 [Lewis]

Morning foggy, obliged to wait. Thermometer at 63°, temperature of the river water 73°, being a difference of ten degrees, but yesterday there was a difference of twelve degrees, so that the water must have changed its temperature two degrees in twenty-four hours, colder. At a quarter past eight the mercury rose in the open air to 68°, the fog disappeared, and we set out. The difference therefore of five degrees in temperature between the water and air is not sufficient to produce the appearance of fog. From the watermark we fixed last evening it appeared that the river during the night had fallen an inch perpendicularly. The pirogue was loaded, as has been my practice since I left Pittsburgh, in order as much as possible to lighten the boat [i.e., the keelboat; Lewis was running the Ohio during the season when it is generally at its lowest, late summer and early fall]; the [men] who conducted her called as in distress about an hour after we had got under way. We came to and waited her coming up, found she had sprung a leak and had nearly filled. This accident was truly distressing, as her load, consisting of articles of hardware intended as presents to the Indians, got wet and I fear are much damaged. Proceeded about three miles further, got fast on a bar below Georgetown, and with the assistance of some of the neighboring people got over it with much difficulty. At Georgetown purchased a canoe complete with two paddles and two poles, for which I gave $11, found that my new purchase leaked so much that she was unsafe without some repairs. Came to about a mile below the riffle on the eastern shore pretty early in the evening where we stayed all night, having made about 13 miles this day. Opened the articles which had gotten wet and exposed them to the sun. Set some of my hands to repairing the canoes, which I effected before night. Had the articles well oiled and put up in oilcloth bags and returned to the casks in which they previously were. Hired another hand to go with me as far as Wheeling. The articles were not as much injured as I had supposed.

About two miles above my camp passed the line which divides the States of Virginia and Pennsylvania on the east side of the river and on the west that of Pennsylvania from the State of Ohio. This line is made visible from the timber having been felled about 60 feet in width. The young timber has sprung up but has not yet attained the height of the other, so that it can with ease be traced with the eye a considerable distance. It passes the Ohio River at the mouth of Mill Creek. The water is so low and clear that we see a great number of fish of different kinds, the sturgeon, bass, catfish, pike, etc. We fixed some spears after the Indian method but have had too much to attend to of more importance than gigging fish.

It is difficult to determine exactly what Lewis meant by a pirogue, since he often called the same boat a pirogue and a canoe. The French word pirogue generally designates a dugout or open boat, usually large enough to carry up to ten men. Lewis and Clark took two of them up the Missouri, along with the keelboat. One, the larger, was known as the white pirogue or the eight ton pirogue, capable presumably of carrying eight tons of load, although that seems excessive. The other was known as the red pirogue. Whether either of these is among the boats that came down the Ohio with Lewis is not known. The hardware that got wet would have been such things as knives, kettles, and other trade goods.

September 5, 1803 [Lewis]

Again foggy, loaded both my canoes and waited till the fog disappeared. Set out at eight o’clock. Had some difficulty passing several riffles but surmounted it without having recourse to horses or oxen. Rained at six this evening and continued with some intervals through the night to rain pretty hard. Took up at the head of Brown’s Island. It grew very dark and my canoes, which had on board the most valuable part of my stores, had not come up; ordered the trumpet to be sounded and they answered. They came up in a few minutes after. The stores in the canoes being well secured with oilcloth, I concluded to let them remain on board and directed that the water which they made should be bailed out of them occasionally through the night, which was done. They still leaked considerably, notwithstanding the repairs which I had made on them. We came 16 miles this day.

September 6, 1803 [Lewis]

The fog was as thick as usual this morning. Detained us until half past seven o’clock, when we set out. Observed the thermometer in the air to stand at 71°, water 73°. The fog continued even with that small difference between the temperature of the air and water. Struck on a riffle which we got over with some difficulty and in the distance of two miles and a half passed four others, three of which we were obliged to drag over with horses. The man charged me the exorbitant price of two dollars for his trouble. Got on pretty well to Steubenville, which we passed at two o’clock, being six miles from encampment. Hoisted our foresail, found great relief from it. We ran two miles in a few minutes when the wind becoming so strong we were obliged to haul it in lest it should carry away the mast; but the wind abating in some measure we again spread it. A sudden squall broke the sprit and had very nearly carried away the mast, after we furled and secured the sail, though the wind was so strong as to carry us at a pretty good speed by means of the awning and furled sails.

Struck on a riffle about two miles below the town. Hoisted our mainsail to assist in driving us over the riffle. The wind blew so hard as to break the sprit of it, and now having no assistance but by manual exertion and my men worn down by perpetual lifting, I was obliged again to have recourse to my usual resort and sent out in search of horses or oxen. Steubenville is a small town situated on the Ohio in the state of Ohio about six miles above Charlestown in Virginia and 24 above Wheeling. It is a small, well built, thriving place, has several respectable families residing in it, five years since it was a wilderness. The oxen arrived, got off with difficulty. The oxen drew badly; however, with their assistance we got over two other riffles which lay just below. We proceeded about a mile and a half further and encamped on the west bank, having made ten miles this day.

September 7, 1803 [Lewis]

Foggy this morning according to custom; set out at half past seven, and in about two hundred paces stuck on a riffle. All hands obliged to get out. Observed the thermometer at sunrise in the air to stand at 47°, the temperature of the river water being 68°—difference of 21 degrees. Got over the riffle, at 45 minutes after eight. Passed Charlestown on the E. shore above the mouth of Buffalo [Creek?], over which there is built a handsome wooden bridge. This has the appearance of a handsome little village, containing about 40 houses. This village is three miles below our encampment of last evening. Reached Wheeling, 16 miles distant, at five in the evening. This is a pretty considerable village, contains about 50 houses and is the county town of Ohio (State of Virginia) [the county seat of Ohio County, Virginia]. It is situated on the east side of the river on an elevated bank. The landing is good, just below the town and on the same side. Big Wheeling Creek empties itself into the Ohio; on the point formed by this creek and the river stands an old stockade fort, now gone to decay. This town is remarkable for being the point of embarkation for merchants and emigrants who are about to descend the river, particularly if they are late in getting on and the water gets low, as it most commonly is from the beginning of July to the last of September, the water from hence being much deeper and the navigation better than it is from Pittsburgh or any point above it. I went on shore, waited on a Mr. Caldwell, a merchant of that place, to whom I had consigned a part of my goods which I had sent by land from Pittsburgh. Found the articles in good order. Here met with Col. Rodney, one of the commissioners appointed by the government to adjust the land claims in the Mississippi Territory. In his suite was Maj. Claiborne and a young gentleman who was going on to the Territory with a view to commence the practice of the law. He is a pupil of Caesar Rodney of Delaware. Remained all night.

September 8, 1803 [Lewis]

This day wrote to the President, purchased a pirogue, and hired a man to work her. My men were much fatigued and I concluded it would be better to give them a day’s rest and let them wash their clothes and exchange their flour for bread or bake their bread in a better manner than they had the means of baking it while traveling. Dined with Col. Rodney and his suite. In the evening they walked down to my boat and partook of some watermelons. I here also met with Dr. Patterson, the son of the professor of mathematics in the University of Philadelphia. He expressed a great desire to go with me. I consented, provided he could get ready by three the next evening. He thought he could and instantly set about it. I told the Doctor that I had a letter of appointment for a Second Lieutenant which I could give him but did not feel myself altogether at liberty to use it as it was given me by the President to be used in the event of Mr. Clark’s not consenting to go with me, but as he had I could not use it without the previous consent of the President. However, if he thought proper to go on with me to the Illinois [i.e., the Illinois territory around the upper Mississippi; Illinois was not yet a state] where I expected to winter I could obtain an answer from the President by the spring of the year or before the Missouri would be sufficiently open to admit of my ascending it. In the event of the President’s not consenting to our wishes, I conceived that the situation of that country was a much more eligible one for a physician than that of Wheeling, particularly as he stated that the practice which he had acquired at Wheeling was not an object: the Doctor was to have taken his medicine with him, which was a small assortment of about 100£ [100 English pounds] value.

Remained here all night. The people began to top their corn and collect their fodder.

September 9, 1803 [Lewis]

The Doctor could not get ready. I waited until three this evening and then set out. Had some difficulty getting over a riffle one mile below the town, got on six miles and brought to. I was now informed that by some mistake in the contract between the Corporal and the woman who had engaged to bake the bread for the men at Wheeling the woman would not agree to give up the bread, being 90 pounds, and the bread was left. I instantly dispatched the Corporal and two men for the bread and gave him a dollar to pay the woman for her trouble. About the time we landed it began to rain very hard and continued to rain most powerfully all night with small intervals. Had my pirogues covered with oilcloth, but the rain came down in such torrents that I found it necessary to have them bailed out frequently in the course of the night. In attending to the security of my goods I was exposed to the rain and got wet to the skin, as I remained until about twelve at night, when I wrung out my saturated clothes, put on a dry shirt, turned into my berth. The rain was excessively cold for the season of the year.

September 10, 1803 [Lewis]

The rain ceased about day, the clouds had not dispersed and looked very much like giving us a repetition of the last evening’s frolic. There was but little fog and I should have been able to have set out at sunrise, but the Corporal had not yet returned with the bread. I began to fear that he was piqued with the sharp reprimand I gave him the evening before for his negligence and inattention with respect to the bread and had deserted. In this, however, I was agreeably disappointed. About eight in the morning he came up, bringing with him the two men and the bread, they instantly embarked and we set out. We passed several bad riffles this morning and at 11 o’clock, six miles below our encampment of last evening, I landed on the east side of the river and went on shore to view a remarkable artificial mound of earth called by the people in this neighborhood the Indian grave.

This remarkable mound of earth stands on the east bank of the Ohio 12 miles below Wheeling and about 700 paces from the river. As the land is not cleared, the mound is not visible from the river. This mound gives name to two small creeks, called Little and Big Grave Creeks, which pass about a half a mile on each side of it and fall into the Ohio about a mile distant from each other. The small creek is above. The mound stands on the most elevated ground of a large bottom containing about 4,000 acres of land. The bottom is bounded from N.E. to S.W. by a high range of hills which seem to describe a semicircle around it, of which the river is the diameter, the hills being more distant from the mound than the river. Near the mound to the N. stands a small town lately laid out called Elizabethtown. There are but about six or seven dwelling houses in it as yet. In this town there are several mounds of the same kind as the large one but not near as large. In various parts of this bottom the traces of old entrenchments are to be seen, though they are so imperfect that they cannot be traced in such manner as to make any complete figure; for this inquiry I had not leisure. I shall therefore content myself by giving a description of the large mound and offering some conjectures with regard to the probable purposes for which they were intended by their founders, whoever they may have been.

The mound is nearly a regular cone 310 yards in circumference at its base and 65 feet high, terminating in a blunt point whose diameter is 30 feet. This point is concave, being depressed about five feet in the center. Around the base runs a ditch 60 feet in width which is broken or intersected by a ledge of earth raised as high as the outer bank of the ditch on the N.W. side. This bank is about 30 feet wide and appears to have formed the entrance to the fortified mound. Near the summit of this mound grows a white oak tree whose girth is 13 and a half feet. From the aged appearance of this tree I think its age might reasonably be calculated at 300 years. The whole mound is covered with large timber, sugar tree, hickory, poplar, red and white oak, etc. I was informed that in removing the earth of a part of one of those lesser mounds that stand in the town the skeletons of two men were found and some brass beads were found among the earth near these bones. My informant told me the beads were sent to Mr. Peale’s Museum in Philadelphia where he believed they now were.

We got on 24 miles this day. We passed some bad riffles but got over them without the assistance of cattle. Came to on the E. side in deep water and a bold shore. Stayed all night a little above Sunfish Creek.

The mound is now known as Grave Creek Mound and dates from 100 B.C. Peale’s Museum in Philadelphia, which was devoted to natural history, had been founded by Charles Willson Peale in 1786 and became a depository for some of the specimens of plants and animals that Lewis and Clark brought back from the West.

September 11, 1803 [Lewis]

Set out about sunrise, passed Sunfish Creek one mile, etc. Entered the long reach, so called from the Ohio running in a straight direction for 18 miles. In this reach there are five islands from three to two miles in length each. Observed a number of squirrels swimming the Ohio and universally passing from the W. to the East shore. They appear to be making to the south; perhaps it may be mast or food which they are in search of but I should rather suppose that it is climate which is their object, as I find no difference in the quantity of mast on both sides of this river, it being abundant on both, except the beechnut, which appears extremely scarce this season. The walnuts and hickory nuts, the usual food of the squirrel, appear in great abundance on either side of the river. I made my dog take as many each day as I had occasion for; they were fat and I thought them when fried a pleasant food [the dog went all the way to the Pacific with Lewis and Clark and presumably returned; its name was either Seaman or Scannon, depending on how one reads Lewis’s handwriting]. Many of these squirrels were black; they swim very light on the water and make pretty good speed. My dog was of the Newfoundland breed, very active, strong, and docile. He would take the squirrels in the water, kill them, and swimming bring them in his mouth to the boat. We lay this night below the fifth island in the long reach on the E. side of the river, having come 26 miles.

September 12, 1803 [Lewis]

Set out at sunrise. It began to rain and continued with some intervals until three in the evening. Passed several bad riffles and one particularly at the lower end of the long reach called Wilson’s Riffle. Here we were obliged to cut a channel through the gravel with our spade and canoe paddles and then drag the boat through. We were detained about four hours before we accomplished this task and again continued our route and took up on the N.W. shore near a Yankee farmer, from whom I purchased some corn and potatoes for my men and gave him in exchange a few pounds of lead. We came 20 miles this day.

September 13, 1803 [Lewis]

This morning being clear we pursued our journey at sunrise and after passing a few riffles over which we had to lift the boat, we arrived at Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum River, at seven o’clock in the evening. Observed many pigeons passing over us pursuing a southeast course [these were passenger pigeons, which are now extinct; they were killed in huge quantities for food in the 19th century]. The squirrels still continue to cross the river from N.W. to S.E. Marietta is one hundred miles from Wheeling; lay here all night. Wrote to the President of U.S. Dismissed two of my hands, one of whom by the name of Wilkinson I had engaged at Georgetown, the other, Samuel Montgomery, I engaged at Wheeling. My party from Pittsburgh to McIntosh was 11 strong, from thence to Georgetown 10, from thence to Wheeling 11, from thence to Muskingum 13, from thence to Limestone 12. At Wheeling I engaged Montgomery and a young man came on board and agreed to work his passage. On the same terms I engaged another at Marietta or the mouth of Muskingum. This evening I was visited by Col. Green, the Postmaster at this place. He appears to be much of a gentleman and an excellent republican [i.e., of the party of Jefferson].

September 14, 1803 [Lewis]

Set out this morning at 11 o’clock. Was prevented setting out earlier in consequence of two of my men getting drunk and absenting themselves. I finally found them and had them brought on board, so drunk that they were unable to help themselves. Passed several riffles and lay all night on the N.W. shore. Was here informed that there were some instances of the goiter in the neighborhood, two women who lived on the bank of the river just below. They had emigrated to that place from the lower part of Pennsylvania and had contracted the disorder since their residence on the Ohio. The fever and ague and bilious fevers here commence their baneful oppression and continue through the whole course of the river with increasing violence as you approach its mouth [Lewis is talking here about one disease, malaria, which was common even in New York in the nineteenth century]. Saw many squirrels this day swimming the river from N.W. to S.E. Caught several by means of my dog.

September 15, 1803 [Lewis]

Set out this morning at sunrise, passed the mouth of the Little Kanawha one mile below our encampment of last evening on the Virginia shore. It is about 60 yards wide at its mouth. There is a considerable settlement on this river. It heads with the Monongahela. Passed the mouths of the little and big Hock-hocking [now simply the Hocking] and the settlement of Bellepre—a Yankee settlement. Passed several bad riffles over which we were obliged to lift the boat.

Saw and caught by means of my dog several squirrels attempting to swim the river. One of these, the only instance I have observed, was swimming from the S.E. to the N.W. shore. One of the canoes fell a considerable distance behind; we were obliged to lie to for her coming up, which detained us several hours. It rained very hard on us from seven this morning until about three, when it broke away, and evening was clear with a few flying clouds. Took up on the Virginia shore having made 18 miles this day.

September 16, 1803 [Lewis]

Thermometer this morning in the air 54°, in the water 72°. A thick fog which continued so thick that we did not set out until eight o’clock in the morning. The day was fair, passed several very bad riffles and among the rest Amberson’s Island. While they were getting the boat through this long riffle I went on shore and shot some squirrels. My men were very much fatigued with this day’s labor; however, I continued until nearly dark, when we came to on the Virginia shore, having made only 19 miles this day.

September 17, 1803 [Lewis]

The morning was foggy, but being informed by my pilot that we had good water for several miles, I ventured to set out before the fog disappeared. Came on seven miles to the old Town Bar, which being a handsome clean place for the purpose I determined to spend the day and to open and dry my goods, which I had found were wet by the rain on the 15th, notwithstanding I had them secured with my oilcloths and a common tent which I had as well and the canoes frequently bailed in the course of the day and night. I found on opening the goods that many of the articles were much injured, particularly the articles of iron, which were rusted very much. My guns, tomahawks, and knives were of this class. I caused them to be oiled and exposed to the sun. The clothing of every description also was opened and aired. We busily employed in this business all hands from ten in the morning until sunset, when I caused the canoes to be reloaded, having taken the precaution to put up all the articles that would admit of that mode of packing in bags of oilcloth which I had provided for that purpose and again returned to their several casks, trunks, and boxes.

My biscuit was much injured. I had it picked and put up in these bags. This work kept me so busy that I ate not anything until after dark, being determined to have everything in readiness for an early start in the morning. The evening was calm, though the wind had blown extremely hard up the river all day. It is somewhat remarkable that the wind on this river, from much observation of my own, and the concurrent observation of those who inhabit its banks, blows or sets up against its current four days out of five during the course of the whole year; it will readily be conceived how much this circumstance will aid the navigation of the river. When the Ohio is in its present low state, between the riffles and in many places for several miles together there is no perceptible current, the whole surface being perfectly dead or taking the direction only which the wind may chance to give it. This makes the passage down this stream more difficult than would at first view be imagined. When it is remembered that the wind so frequently sets up the river, the way the traveler makes in descending therefore is by the dint of hard rowing—or force of the oar or pole.

September 18, 1803 [Lewis]

The morning was clear and having had everything in readiness the overnight we set out before sunrise and at nine in the morning passed Letart Falls, this being nine miles distant from our encampment of the last evening. This rapid is the most considerable in the whole course of the Ohio, except the rapids as they are called opposite to Louisville in Kentucky. The descent at Letart Falls is a little more than four feet in two hundred fifty yards.

SUMMARY

SEPTEMBER 19, 1803 TO MAY 13, 1804

After September 18, Lewis’s journal entries break off and do not resume until November 11, when he notes that he has hired George Drouillard (whose last name both he and Clark persist in spelling as Drewyer). Born to a French-Canadian father and a Shawnee mother, Drouillard would become one of the expedition’s most capable men, serving as hunter, translator, and scout. He was highly skilled in the Indian sign language. Lewis relied on him heavily. By this time Captain Clark had joined the expedition as well. On November 15 they reached the Mississippi, where the men immediately caught a catfish weighing 128 pounds, with Lewis remarking that he had heard of catfish weighing 175 to 200 pounds. On November 20 they began making their way up the Mississippi toward the mouth of the Missouri. Lewis was practicing now taking sun sights to measure the latitude, which he had learned to do in Philadelphia the previous spring and would continue to do throughout the journey. He also took longitude measurements, but these were less accurate, because whoever was in charge of the chronometer had a tendency to forget to wind it. He taught both these skills to Clark, but throughout the expedition most of the measurements of latitude and longitude were written down by Lewis.

Later in November Lewis stopped keeping daily journal entries, not resuming until April 1805, unless the intervening journals have been lost. He did during this time write descriptive notes of the new species of flora and fauna they found along the way, however, and occasional narrative notes as well; but generally Clark assumed the burden of daily record keeping. Early in December 1803, Lewis left the boat for St. Louis on horseback. Clark took the boats up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Rivière à Dubois, commonly known as Wood River, which empties into the Mississippi on the Illinois side more or less opposite the mouth of the Missouri, and there, on December 13, they began to build their winter camp.

It would be interesting to know more about what happened during the next few months, but the notes and journal entries Lewis and Clark made during this period are sketchy and have no narrative thread to hold them together. Lewis came down the Ohio with between 10 and 13 men; by the time they were ready to start up the Missouri in mid-May the roster included 27 men, not counting Lewis, Clark, and his black slave, York, or the French engagés who would man the pirogues. We do not know when the additional men arrived. In an undated note Clark describes them as robust, healthy, hardy young men and indicates that they all came recommended, but it’s also clear from the notes that they were boisterous and difficult to control. When Lewis and Clark were not in camp, as was often the case, they placed Sergeant Ordway in charge, and he could not keep them in line. Men went out on the pretext of hunting and instead wound up in a local whiskey shop and got drunk; when they drank they fought; at least once one of the men loaded up his gun and threatened to kill Sergeant Ordway. There was, perhaps, little to do but hunt and drink, once their cabins had been built.

Lewis and Clark, sometimes separately, sometimes together, were either in St. Louis across the river or in Cahokia, a nearby town on the Illinois side of the Mississippi. Part of their responsibility was to learn as much as they could about the upper reaches of the Missouri from fur traders such as James Mackay and Manuel Lisa, who had been there [Lisa later became a dominant factor in the fur trade on the upper Missouri, establishing a post on the Yellowstone as early as 1807; George Drouillard worked for him and was killed in his service in 1810]. Mackay was especially useful, as he had traded as far up as northeastern Nebraska; he had sent another man, a Welshman named John Thomas Evans, as far as the Mandan villages, and Evans had made a map. Lewis appears to have made a copy of it, and it was the best guide they had. The consensus is that both Lewis and Clark were in St. Louis on March 10 for a ceremony at Government House. With the entire population of St. Louis assembled, the Spanish flag was lowered and the French flag raised, to commemorate the brief three months during which France had recently owned the vast territory of Louisiana (Napoleon having of course acquired it from Spain). Then, amidst salutes from the fort, the French flag was lowered and the flag of the United States of America took up permanent residence on the flagpole. The Louisiana Purchase was complete. The Missouri River, its basin, and the lands drained by western tributaries of the Mississippi was now American territory.

During April and early May preparations at the winter camp seem to have intensified. Traders and merchants came with supplies; local men came to compete in shooting matches with the men, and they invariably lost money to them. There were still discipline problems, but Lewis and Clark were both used to command and knew how to handle men. This was a military organization, with captains, sergeants, corporals, and privates, and they ran it as such. On May 8 they loaded the keelboat and one pirogue; later in the day they manned the keelboat with 20 men at the oars and rowed it a few miles up the Mississippi. On the 11th Drouillard came back to camp with seven French engagés; most of these men had trading experience on the Missouri and knew the river. On Sunday, May 13th, Clark wrote the following in his journal:

I dispatched an express this morning to Capt. Lewis at St. Louis. All our provisions, goods and equipage on board of a boat of 22 oars, a large pirogue of seven oars, a second pirogue of six oars, complete with sails, etc., men complete with powder, cartridges and 100 balls each, all in health and readiness to set out. Boats and everything complete, with the necessary stores of provision and such articles of merchandise as we thought ourselves authorized to procure—though not as much as I think necessary for the multitude of Indians through which we must pass on our road across the Continent.

The next day they set out for the Pacific Ocean.

Clark’s roster of expedition members and a map of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, December 31, 1803–January 3, 1804 Credit 2

MAY 14 TO JUNE 14, 1804

May 14, 1804, Monday [Clark]

Rained the forepart of the day. I determined to go as far as St. Charles, a French village 7 leagues [21 miles] up the Missouri, and wait at that place until Capt. Lewis could finish the business he was obliged to attend to at St. Louis and join me by land. By this movement I calculated that if any alterations in the loading of the vessels or other changes were necessary they might be made at St. Charles.

I set out at 4 p.m. in the presence of many of the neighboring inhabitants, and proceeded on under a gentle breeze up the Missouri to the upper point of the first island four miles and camped on the island, which is situated close on the right (or starboard) side and opposite the mouth of a small creek called Coldwater. A heavy rain this afternoon.

May 15, 1804, Tuesday [Lewis]

It rained during the greater part of last night and continued until seven a.m., after which the party proceeded, passed two islands and encamped on the starboard shore at Mr. Fifer’s landing opposite an island. The evening was fair. Some wild geese with their young were seen today. The barge ran foul three times today on logs, and in one instance it was with much difficulty they could get her off; happily no injury was sustained, though the barge was several minutes in imminent danger; this was caused by her being too heavily laden in the stern. Persons accustomed to the navigation of the Missouri, and the Mississippi also below the mouth of this river, uniformly take the precaution to load their vessels heaviest in the bow when they ascend the stream in order to avoid the danger incident to running foul of the concealed timber which lies in great quantities in the beds of these rivers.

May 16, 1804, Wednesday [Clark]

A fair morning. Set out at five o’clock. Passed a remarkable coal hill on the larboard side called by the French Carbonere. This hill appears to contain a great quantity of coal. From this hill the village of St. Charles may be seen seven miles distant. We arrived at St. Charles at 12 o’clock. A number of spectators, French and Indians, flocked to the bank to see the party. This village is about one mile in length, situated on the north side of the Missouri at the foot of a hill from which it takes its name, Petite Cote or the Little Hill. This village contains about 100 houses, most of them small and indifferent, and about 450 inhabitants, chiefly French. Those people appear poor, polite, and harmonious. I was invited to dine with a Mr. Duquette. This gentleman was once a merchant from Canada. From misfortunes added to the loss of a cargo sold to the late Judge Turner he has become somewhat reduced. He has a charming wife, an elegant situation on the hill surrounded by orchards and an excellent garden.

On the evening of the 16th the community of St. Charles held a ball for the expedition, and three men were absent without leave afterward. The next day Clark held a court martial and all three men were found guilty. Two were sentenced to 25 lashes on their naked back, but sentence was remitted because of good conduct. The third man, John Collins, faced the additional charge of behaving in an unbecoming manner at the ball and for speaking in a language after his return to camp tending to bring into disrespect the orders of the commanding officer. Collins was found guilty and sentenced to 50 lashes, which were administered that evening. Over the next few days Clark had the loads in the boats redistributed, sent a letter to Captain Lewis in St. Louis, received visitors, was invited to another ball, and waited. The following is one of the only narrative entries Lewis made until spring of the next year.

May 20, 1804, Sunday [Lewis]

The morning was fair, and the weather pleasant. At 10 a.m., agreeably to an appointment of the preceding day, I was joined by Capt. Stoddard, Lieuts. Milford and Worrell, together with Messrs. A. Chouteau, C. Gratiot, and many other respectable inhabitants of St. Louis, who had engaged to accompany me to the village of St. Charles. Accordingly at 12 o’clock, after bidding an affectionate adieu to my hostess, that excellent woman the spouse of Mr. Peter Choteau, and some of my fair friends of St. Louis, we set forward to that village in order to join my friend, companion, and fellow laborer Capt. William Clark, who had previously arrived at that place with the party destined for the discovery of the interior of the continent of North America. The first five miles of our route led through a beautiful high, level and fertile prairie which encircles the town of St. Louis from N.W. to S.E. The lands through which we then passed are somewhat broken, less fertile; the plains and woodlands are here indiscriminately interspersed until you arrive within three miles of the village, when the woodland commences and continues to the Missouri. The latter is extremely fertile. At half after one p.m. our progress was interrupted by the near approach of a violent thunderstorm from the N.W. We concluded to take shelter in a little cabin hard by until the rain should be over; accordingly we alighted and remained about an hour and a half and regaled ourselves with a cold collation we had taken the precaution to bring with us from St. Louis.

The clouds continued to follow each other in rapid succession, insomuch that there was but little prospect of its ceasing to rain this evening; as I had determined to reach St. Charles this evening and knowing that there was now no time to be lost I set forward in the rain, most of the gentlemen continued with me, we arrived at half after six and joined Capt. Clark, found the party in good health and spirits. Supped this evening with Monsr. Charles Tayong, a Spanish Ensign and late commandant of St. Charles. At an early hour I retired to rest on board the barge.

St. Charles is situated on the north bank of the Missouri 21 miles above its junction with the Mississippi, and about the same distance N.W. from St. Louis; it is bisected by one principal street about a mile in length running nearly parallel with the river. The plain on which it stands is narrow, though sufficiently elevated to secure it against the annual inundations of the river, which usually happen in the month of June. In the rear it is terminated by a range of small hills, hence the appellation of petit Cote, a name by which this village is better known to the French inhabitants of the Illinois than that of St. Charles. The village contains a chapel, one hundred dwelling houses, and about 450 inhabitants; their houses are generally small and ill constructed; a great majority of the inhabitants are miserably poor, illiterate, and when at home excessively lazy, though they are polite, hospitable, and by no means deficient in point of natural genius. They live in a perfect state of harmony among each other, and place as implicit confidence in the doctrines of their spiritual pastor, the Roman Catholic priest, as they yield passive obedience to the will of their temporal master, the commandant. A small garden of vegetables is the usual extent of their cultivation, and this is commonly imposed on the old men and boys. The men in the vigor of life consider the cultivation of the earth a degrading occupation, and in order to gain the necessary subsistence for themselves and their families, either undertake hunting voyages on their own account, or engage themselves as hirelings to such persons as possess sufficient capital to extend their traffic to the natives of the interior parts of the country. On those voyages in either case they are frequently absent from their families or homes the term of six, twelve, or eighteen months, and always subjected to severe and incessant labor, exposed to the ferocity of the lawless savages, the vicissitudes of weather and climate, and dependent on chance or accident alone for food, raiment or relief in the event of malady. These people are principally the descendants of the Canadian French, and it is not an inconsiderable proportion of them that can boast a small dash of the pure blood of the aborigines of America.

On consulting with my friend Capt. Clark I found it necessary that we should postpone our departure until 2 p.m. the next day and accordingly gave orders to the party to hold themselves in readiness to depart at that hour.

May 21, 1804, Monday [Clark]

All the forepart of the day arranging our party and procuring the different articles necessary for them at this place. Dined with Mr. Duquette and set out at half past three o’clock under three cheers from the gentlemen on the bank and proceeded on to the head of the island (which is situated on the starboard side) three miles. Soon after we set out today a hard wind from the W.S.W. accompanied with a hard rain, which lasted with short intervals all night. Opposite our camp a small creek comes in on the larboard side.

May 22, 1804, Tuesday [Clark]

A cloudy morning. Delayed one hour for four Frenchmen who got liberty to return to arrange some business they had forgotten in town. At six o’clock we proceeded on, passed several small farms on the bank, and a large creek on the larboard side called Bonhomme. A camp of Kickapoos on the starboard side. Those Indians told me several days ago that they would come on and hunt and by the time I got to their camp they would have some provisions for us. We camped in a bend at the mouth of a small creek. Soon after we came to, the Indians arrived with four deer as a present, for which we gave them two quarts of whiskey.

May 23, 1804, Wednesday [Clark]

We set out early, ran on a log and were detained one hour, proceeded to the mouth of a creek on the starboard side called Osage Woman’s Creek, about 30 yards wide, opposite a large island and a settlement. Took in R. and J. Fields who had been sent to purchase corn and butter, etc. Many people came to see us. We passed a large cave on the larboard side (called by the French the Tavern) about 120 feet wide, 40 feet deep and 20 feet high. Many different images are painted on the rock at this place. The Indians and the French pay homage. Many names are written on the rock. Stopped about one mile above for Capt. Lewis, who had ascended the cliffs at the said cave, 300 feet high, hanging over the water. The water excessively swift today. We encamped below a small island in the middle of the river, sent out two hunters, one killed a deer.

This evening we examined the arms and ammunition, found the men’s arms in the pirogue in bad order. A fair evening. Capt. Lewis near falling from the peninsula of rocks 300 feet, he caught at 20 feet.

May 24, 1804, Thursday [Clark]

Set out early. Passed a very bad part of the river called the Devil’s Race Ground. This is where the current sets against some projecting rocks for half a mile on the larboard side. Above this place is the mouth of a small creek. Passed several islands, two small creeks on the starboard side, and passed between an island and the larboard shore—a narrow pass. Above this island is a very bad part of the river. We attempted to pass up under the larboard bank, which was falling in so fast that the evident danger obliged us to cross between the starboard side and a sandbar in the middle of the river. We hove up near the head of the sandbar; the sand moving and backing caused us to run on the sand. The swiftness of the current wheeled the boat, broke our tow rope, and was nearly oversetting the boat. All hands jumped out on the upper side and bore on that side until the sand washed from under the boat. It wheeled on the next bank; by the time she wheeled a third time we got a rope fast to her stern and by the means of swimmers it was carried to shore. We returned to the island where we set out and ascended under the bank, which I have just mentioned as falling in. Here George Drouillard and Willard, two of our men who left us at St. Charles to come on by land, joined us. We camped about 1 mile above where we were so nearly being lost, on the larboard side at a plantation. All in spirits. This place I call the retrograde bend as we were obliged to fall back two miles.

May 25, 1804, Friday [Clark]

Rain last night. The river fell several inches. Set out early, passed several islands. Passed Wood River on the larboard side at two miles. Passed creek on the starboard called La Queur [quiver, says Thwaites] at five miles. Passed a creek (called Rivière la Poceau) at eight miles, opposite an island on the larboard side. Camped at the mouth of a creek called [La Charette, says Thwaites] above a small French village of seven houses and as many families, settled at this place to be convenient to hunt and trade with the Indians. [This was the last white settlement on the Missouri.] Here we met with M. Loisel immediately down from Cedar Island in the country of the Sioux 400 leagues up. He gave us a good deal of information and some letters. He informed us that he saw no Indians on the river below the Poncas.

The people at this village are poor, houses small. They sent us milk and eggs to eat.

May 26, 1804, Saturday [Clark]

Set out at seven o’clock after a heavy shower of rain. The wind favorable from the E.N.E. Passed a large island called Buffalo Island, separated from the land by a small channel into which Buffalo Creek empties itself on larboard side at three and a half miles. Passed a creek on the larboard side called Shepherd’s Creek; passed several islands today. Great deal of deer sign on the bank. One man out hunting, we camped on an island on the starboard side near the southern extreme of Luter Island.

At this point in the journey Lewis wrote out his detachment orders assigning the men to their commands under the various sergeants and instructing them on their duties. We are not printing the list of men under the various commands; these commands changed from time to time. But the duty instructions, with minor omissions, are definitely worth printing.

DETACHMENT ORDERS

May 26, 1804 [Lewis]

The posts and duties of the Sergeants shall be as follows—when the bateau is under way, one Sergeant shall be stationed at the helm, one in the center on the rear of the starboard locker, and one at the bow. The Sergeant at the helm shall steer the boat and see that the baggage on the