May 31, 1804

[Clark]

May 31st Thursday 1804 ^[1]

rained the greater part of last night, the wind from the West raised and blew with great force untile 5 oClock p. m. which obliged us to lay by a Cajaux of Bear Skins and pelteries came down from the Grand Osarge, ^[2] one french man one 〈half〉 Indian, and a Squar, they had letters from the man Mr. Choteau Sent to that part of the Osarge Nation Settled on Arkansa River mentioning that his letter was Commited to the flaims, ^[3] the Inds. not believeing that the Americans had possession of the Countrey they disregard'ed St Louis & their Supplies &c.— Several rats of Considerable Side was Cought in the woods to day— ^[4] Capt Lewis went out to the woods & found many curious Plants & Srubs, one Deer killed this evening

[Ordway]

Thursday May 31st 1804, we lay at panther creek on acct. of a hard wind from N. West Several of the party out hunting in the later part of the day Reuben Fields killed a Deer. Several Frenchman Stayed with us last night,came down the R. with Peltry &C

[Floyd]

thursday may 31th 1804 one perogue Loaded with Bare Skins and Beav and Deer Skins from the osoge village ^[5] one osoge woman with them our hunters went out and Kild one Deer we Lay By all this day on acount of the Wind the Land is Good but Broken it Rained and Cleard up nothing worth Relating to day

[Gass]

Thursday 31st. We were obliged to remain at this encampment all day, on account of a strong wind from the west. An Indian man and a squaw came down the river with two canoes, loaded with fur and peltry, and remained with us all night. Some of our hunters went out and killed a deer.

[Whitehouse]

Thursday 31st May 1804. a fair morning. we Set out as usal and prceedd. on ^[6] met a perogue in which was a french man and 2 Indians on board. their loading was beaver Skins and other peltry. high wind, R. Fields killed a deer. ^[7]

Thursday May 31st This morning being fair, we started early as usual, and proceeded on, we were met by a pettyauger having on board a french Man and two Indians; she was loaded with beaver Skins and peltry.— The wind blowing hard we came too. one of our Men named Reubin Fields killed a deer, we encamped here this evening.—

1. There is no May 31, 1804, entry in the Field Notes. The one given is in Codex A. (back)

2. When first mentioned by Europeans in 1673 the Osages were living on the upper Osage River in present western Missouri. During the early eighteenth century the group known as the Little Osages moved away and settled on the lower Missouri River, near the Missouri Indians. Those remaining on the Osage River were known as the Great (or Grand, or Big) Osages. Late in the eighteenth century the Little Osages rejoined their kinsmen. By the time of Lewis and Clark about half of the Great Osages had moved to the Arkansas River in present-day Kansas. They speak a Siouan language of the Dhegiha group and had an economy based on hunting and horticulture. Hodge, 2:156–58; Mathews; Din & Nasatir; Chapman (IO). (back)

3. The name of the emissary, apparently sent by Auguste or Pierre Chouteau on behalf of the new government, does not appear. The chief who burned the letter was probably Makes-Tracks-Far-Away, otherwise known as Big Track, or Big Foot, leader of the Osages on the Arkansas. Mathews, 300, 344, 354–55; Jackson (LLC), 1:203 n. 3. (back)

4. Evidently the eastern wood rat, Neotoma floridana, then new to science; Clark mentions it again briefly on July 7, 1804. Lewis's description on February 27, 1806, was the first scientific account of the species. Cutright (LCPN), 58, 444; Coues (HLC), 1:40 n. 86; Hall, 2:748–50. (back)

5. The village would probably have been at the Osage River in western Missouri. The Osage Indians are discussed at Clark's entry of this day. (back)

6. All the other journal keepers indicate that the party remained in camp this day because of high winds. It is hard to account for this discrepancy if Whitehouse was actually keeping this journal at the time. (back)

7. Probably white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus. (back)

Date: May 31, 1804
Author(s): Clark, William | Floyd, Charles | Gass, Patrick | Ordway, John | Whitehouse, Joseph
TEI XML: lc.jrn.1804-05-31.xml