June 18, 1804
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Aug 30, 1803 Sep 30, 1806

June 18, 1804

 

June 18th Monday    Some raind last night, Sent out 6 Hunters 〈last〉 to day across the R:    they Killed 5 Deer & Colte[r] [1] a Bear verry fat    we continue to repare our ropes & make oars all day, heavy rain all the fore pt. of the day, the party Drying meat & greesing themselves, Several men with the Disentary, and two thirds of them with ulsers or Boils, Some with 8 or 10 of those Tumers    Mesquetors verry bad    we finish our Cords & oars this evening    Men in Spirits [2]

 

Some rain last night, and Some hard Showers this morning which delay our work verry much, Send out Six hunters in the Prarie on the L S.    they kill 5 Deer & Coltr a Bear, which verry large & fat, the party to wok at the oars, make rope, & jurk their meat all Day    Dry our wet Sales &c. in the evening, The misquiter verry bad

 

Monday June 18th 1804.    hard Rain this morning    we remained here to finish the oars. Several men went out hunting, killed & brought in 4 Deer & one bear, they Inform us that their is handsome praries & very good land on the South Side of the River,

 

Monday June 18th    Clouday 〈day N〉 with Rain and Thunder and wind 〈N. W〉 from the Est    the Land at this Bottom is Good Land    the timbr is Cotten wood    ouer hunters Killed one Bar 5 Deer    nothing worth Relating

 

Monday 18th.    We remained here all day; and our hunters killed five deer and a bear. On the south side there is high land and a long prairie; on the north the land is level and well timbered, with ash, sugar tree, black walnut, buck-eye, cotton wood and some other timber. [3]

 

Monday 18th    In the fore noon thunder and Litning Came On after a Rapid Rain    Got fair and finish Roaps & And Oars—    the hunters Killd. four deer and Colter one large Bare On the west Side of the River—

Monday June 18th    We remain'd here this day, in the forenoon of which we had severe thunder & lightning after which succeeded a Violent rain, in the afternoon it cleared up, and all hands were employed in finishing the Oars & Ropes.    toward evening our hunters came to us having killed four deer and one large Bear, on the South [4] side of the River.—

1. This word and the Codex A version have been interpreted as "Cotte" and "Coht," that is, "caught," by Osgood and Thwaites, respectively, but it almost certainly means that John Colter killed a bear. Whitehouse confirms that Colter killed a bear. Osgood (FN), 59; Thwaites (LC), 1:52. (back)
2. This column of figures comes immediately after the June 18 entry on this sheet of the Field Notes (document 22): 3, 1½, 1½, 1½, 4½, and a total of 13½. (back)
3. Only Gass goes into detail about the timber here. The "sugar tree" is probably sugar, rock, or hard maple, Acer saccharum Marsh., or possibly silver, white, or soft maple, A. saccharinum L.; the buckeye is either yellow buckeye, Aesculus octandra Marsh., or Ohio buckeye, horse chestnut, A. glabra Willd. (back)
4. "South" is written over an erasure, perhaps "North." (back)