September 9, 1803
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Aug 30, 1803 Sep 30, 1806

September 9, 1803

 

The Dr. could not get ready    I waited untill thre this evening and then set out    had some difficulty in geting over a riffle one mile below the town, got on six miles and brought too, [1] I was now informed that by some mistake in the contract between the Corporal [2] and the woman who had engaged to bake the bread for the men at Wheeling that the woman would not agree to give up the bread being 90 lbs. and that the bread was left    I instantly dispatched the Corpol. 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 heard and continued to rain most powerfully all night with small intervals: had my perogues covered with oil-cloth, but the rain came down in such torrents that I found it necessary to have them bailed out freequently 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 birth; the rain was excessively could for the season of the year—

1. About three miles below Bellaire, Ohio. Since Lewis does not indicate the side of the river, it may have been in Belmont County, Ohio, or Marshall County, West Virginia. Quaife (MLJO), 40 n. 1. (back)
2. The only corporals associated with the expedition proper seem to have joined after this date. (back)