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Lewis & Clark Expedition

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October 9, 1804
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October 9, 1804

[Clark]

 

9th of October Tuesday 1804    a windey night    Some rain, and the [wind] Continued So high & cold We could not Speek in Council with the Indians, we gave them Some Tobacco and informed them we would Speek tomorrow, all the grand Chiefs visited us to day also Mr Taboe, [1] a trader from St. Louis—    Many Canoes of a Single Buffalow Skin made in the form of a Bowl Carrying generally 3 and Sometimes 5 & 6 men, those Canoes, ride the highest Waves—    the Indians much asstonished at my Black Servent and Call him the big medison, this nation never Saw a black man before, the wind verry high, I saw at Several times to day 3 Squars in single Buffalow Skin Canoes loaded with meat Cross the River, at the time the waves were as high as I ever Saw them in the Missouri—

[Clark]

9th of October 1804 Tuesday
 

a windey rainey night, and Cold, So much So we Could not Speek with the Indians to day    the three great Chiefs and many others Came to See us to day, we gave them Some tobacco and informed them we would Speek on tomorrow, the day Continued Cold & windey    Some rain    Sorry Canoos of Skins passed down from the 2 villages [2] a Short distance above, and many Came to view us all day, much asstonished at my black Servent, who did not lose the oppertunity of his powers Strength &c. &.    this nation never Saw a black man before.

Several hunters Came in with loads of meat, I observed Several Canoos made of a Single buffalow Skin with 2 & 3 Thre Squars Cross the river to day in Waves as high as I ever Saw them on this river, quite uncomposed    I have a Slite Plurise this evening    Verry Cold &c. &.

1st Chiefs name Ka kawissassa (lighting Crow.) [3]
2d do do Pocasse (or Hay) [4]
3d do do Pia he to (or Eagles feather) [5]

[Ordway]

 

Tuesday 9th Oct.    blustering cold wind this morning. Some Showers of rain. Some chiefs & other Indians came to See us; but it being So cold & windy that they did not assemble to counsel.    this day we raised a flag pole &.C. Some men went to the village.    nothing further particular—

[Gass]

 

Tuesday 9th.    The day was stormy, and we remained here preparing to hold a Council with the nation. Captain Lewis with some of the men went down to their lodges, and were used very kindly and friendly. Two Frenchmen live with them, one to trade and the other to interpret. [6]

[Whitehouse]

 

Tuesday 9th Oct. 1804.    a Stormy day.    we delayed here all day in order to counsel with this nation    their is 2 frenchmen lives with the natives.    they all appear to us verry friendly.—

Tuesday October 9th    This day we had Stormy weather, we lay by, in Order to hold a Councill with the Rick a Ree Indians, Two frenchmen who reside among them, who came to us, and appear very friendly to us & stay'd during the night in our Camp

1. Pierre-Antoine Tabeau was born in Lachine Parish, near Montreal, and received an unusually good education in Montreal and Quebec; by 1776 he had gone west as an engagé in the fur trade. He lived for some years in the Illinois country, took an oath of fidelity to the United States in 1785, and moved to Missouri some time before 1795, when he first went up the Missouri River. He was an employee of Régis Loisel in 1802–1804, spending much of his time among the Arikaras. He was a major source of information for the captains on the Upper Missouri tribes, besides serving as an interpreter and general intermediary; the numerous journal entries that mention him suggest their good opinion of the man. His Narrative of his experiences, not published until 1939, is a major source for the history and culture of the river tribes in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, although he is accused of inflating his own role and reducing that of Loisel. Abel (TN), 32–46 passim; Nasatir (BLC), 1:114, 354. (back)
2. The two villages on the larboard side (which Clark may have considered as one) are known as the Leavenworth site. Going upriver, the first village was Rhtarahe with yPocasse as chief, and the second was Waho-erha with Piaheto as chief. Settled in the late 18th century, they were occupied by the Arikaras at various times and finally abandoned in 1832. The single village opposite was long ago destroyed by channel migration of the river and no remains were ever discovered. The villages are in Corson County (two villages) and Campbell County (the single village), South Dakota. Strong, 366–70; Krause, 15; Ronda (LCAI), 53–54. All the sites are shown on Atlas map 25. See also October 11, below. (back)
3. His name may be rendered as kaakaawiisisa', "crow going across." Tabeau recalled this chief as one who gave him much trouble, constantly demanding gifts and stirring up difficulties when disappointed. Abel (TN), 125, 141 and n. 116, 143 and n. 119, 144. (back)
4. Tabeau "Pacosse—The Straw" (La Paille) which may be pákUs, "straw"; he gave Tabeau an unpleasant reception in 1803. Ibid., 125, 139–40. (back)
5. His name may be given as pi'a' hiítu', "eagle feather." He may be the same person as "Too ne," or Whip-poor-will, otherwise called Ar ke tar na shar, or Chief of the Town (akitaaneešaánu', "band chief"), the latter perhaps a title rather than a proper name. Toone was the chief who accompanied the expedition to the Mandans and Hidatsas to make peace and seek an alliance against the Sioux. If Piaheto and Toone are the same person, then he may also be the chief who died in Washington in 1806, to the detriment of United States–Arikara relations. Jefferson, in writing condolences to the tribe on the man's death, was uncertain which of the above names was the correct one, finally settling on "Arketarnawhar chief of the town" after writing and crossing out "Piaketa" and "Toone" with their English versions. Osgood (FN), 158–59 n. 9; Foley & Rice (RMC), 7; Abel (TN), 125; Jefferson to the Arikaras, April 11, 1806, Jackson (LLC), 1:306 and n. 2. (back)
6. The trader would be Pierre-Antoine Tabeau; the interpreter was Joseph Gravelines or perhaps Joseph Garreau. See Clark's entries for October 8 and 9. (back)
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