February 18, 1805
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Aug 30, 1803 Sep 30, 1806

February 18, 1805

 

a cloudy morning    Some Snow, Several Indians here to day Mr. McKinsey leave me, the after part of the day fine    I am much engaged makeing a discriptive List of the Rivers from Information [1]    our Store of Meat is out to day

 

Monday 18th Feby. 1805.    clear and pleasant. Several of the hunters went out eairly a hunting.    the remainder moved the camp about 5 mls. down the River to a bottom where Capt. Clarks party had Some time before been a hunting, and had made a pen and put up 2 Elk and 11 deer which we found Safe as they left it. Several men out packing in the meat which was killed yesterday    we fixed our camp at an old Indian cabbin near the meat pen.    the hunters came in    had killed one Elk & Seven deer    we got the meat all packed in, Capt. Lewis concluded that we would Start for the Fort the next morning.    we fleased the meat from the bones and eat the marrow out of them.

1. Clark refers to a list entered in Codex C of rivers and other geographical features above Fort Mandan, with estimated distances. The material is in Fort Mandan Miscellany. The Mandans and Hidatsas would have been the only source for most of this. Clark listed tributaries of the Missouri and of the Yellowstone, and some mountain ranges, as far west as "a large river on the west of the mountain," probably a stream such as the Lemhi or the Salmon River in Idaho, or the Bitterroot or Clark's Fork in Montana, immediately beyond the continental divide. Distance estimates would have been based on the time it took the Hidatsas to travel to these points on horseback on their raids. Allen, 210–25, 241–50. (back)