Journals of the
Lewis & Clark Expedition

1. "J. Fields" is written on the upper left corner of the reverse of this document, just above "Mississippi." (back)

2. James Mackay was born in Scotland and came to America in about 1776; he engaged in the fur trade in Canada and from there made a trip to the Mandan villages on the Missouri in 1787. He came to Louisiana about 1794 and, having sworn allegiance to the Spanish government, became manager of the Spanish-controlled Missouri Fur Company's affairs on the upper Missouri. He set out up the Missouri in 1795 and established a post in present northeastern Nebraska. From there he sent up the river John Thomas Evans, who he hoped would reach the Pacific. In fact, Evans got no farther than the Mandan villages. Mackay himself explored the Niobrara, Loup, and Elkhorn rivers in northern and western Nebraska and returned to St. Louis in 1797. Subsequently he became a landowner, a surveyor, and an official for the local Spanish government. His advice and information on the Missouri River country were of great value to Lewis and Clark. He also seems to have furnished them copies of Evans's maps of the Upper Missouri (Atlas maps 7–12, 30). For additional information, see Atlas, 16–17. Nasatir (JM), 185-206; Williams; Nasatir (BLC), 1:351–65, 371; 2: 485–99, 514–26, passim.; Diller (JMJ). (back)

3. There is a hole in the paper here. The original word may have been "N West," referring perhaps to the settlement at the junction of Coldwater Creek and the Missouri, shown in fig. 6. (back)