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Rained last night without intermission and this morning the wind blew hard from the [blank] We Could not move, one Canoe was broken last night against the rocks, by the waves dashing her against them in high tide about 10 oClock 5 Indians Come up in a Canoe thro emence waves & Swells, they landed and informed us they Saw the 3 men we Sent down yesterday, at Some distance below Soon after those people Came Colter one of the 3 men returned and informed us that he had proceeded with his Canoe as far as they Could, for the waves and Could find no white people, or Bay, he Saw a good Canoe harber & 2 Camps of Indians at no great distance below and that those with us had taken his gig & knife &c. which he forcably took from them & they left us, after our treating them well. The rain Continue all day all wet as usial, killed only 2 fish to day for the whole Party, at 3 oClock Capt. Lewis Drewyer Jo. & R. Fields & Frasure Set out down on the Shore to examine if any white men were below within our reach, [2] they took a empty Canoe & 5 men to Set them around the Point on a Gravelley Beech which Colter informed was at no great distance below. The Canoe returned at dusk half full of water, from the waves which dashed over in passing the point Capt Lewis is object is also to find a Small Bay as laid down by Vancouver just out of the mouth of the Columbia River. [3] rained as usial 〈untill〉 all the evening, all wet and disagreeable Situated
rained all the last night without intermition, and this morning. wind blows verry hard but our Situation is Such that we Cannot tell from what point it comes— one of our Canoes is much broken by the waves dashing it against the rocks— 5 Indians Came up in a Canoe, thro' the waves, which is verry high and role with great fury— They made Signs to us that they Saw the 3 men we Sent down yesterday. only 3 of those Indians landed, the other 2 which was women played off in the waves, which induced me to Suspect that they had taken Something from our men below, at this time one of the men Colter returnd by land and informed us that those Indians had taken his Gigg & basket, I called to the Squars to land and give back the gigg, which they would not doe untill a man run with a gun, as if he intended to Shute them when they landed, and Colter got his gig & basket I then ordered those fellows off, and they verry readily Cleared out they are of the War-ci-a-cum N. Colter informed us that "it was but a Short distance from where we lay around the point to a butifull Sand beech, which continud for a long ways, that he had found a good harber in the mouth of a creek near 2 Indian Lodges—that he had proceeded in the Canoe as far as he could for the waves, the other two men Willard & Shannon had proceeded on down["]
Capt Lewis concluded to proceed on by land & find if possible the white people the Indians Say is below and examine if a Bay is Situated near the mouth of this river as laid down by Vancouver in which we expect, if there is white traders to find them &c. at 3 oClock he Set out with 4 men Drewyer Jos. & Reu. Fields & R. Frasure, in one of our large canoes and 5 men to Set them around the point on the Sand beech. this canoe returned nearly filled with water at Dark which it receved by the waves dashing into it on its return, haveing landed Capt. Lewis & his party Safe on the Sand beech. The rain Continues all day all wet. The rain &c. which has continued without a longer intermition than 2 hours at a time for ten days past had distroyd. the robes and rotted 〈a great maney〉 nearly one half of the fiew Clothes the party has, perticularley the leather Clothes,— fortunately for us we have no very Cold weather as yet and if we have Cold weather before we Can kill & Dress Skins for Clothing 〈we〉 the bulk of the party will Suffer verry much.
Thursday 14th Nov. 1805. the Storm continues, and obledges us to Stay in this disagreeable harbour with nothing but pounded Sammon to Eat. one of the men [4] returned who had been down the River and informed us that they went down to an Indian Village in the bay about 10 miles down but Saw no white people. Capt. Lewis and four men [5] Set out by land to go down the River to the mouth.
Thursday 14th. We expected last night to have been able to proceed on this morning, but the rain continued, and the river still remained rough; and we are therefore obliged to lie by. About noon one of the 3 men who had gone in the canoe, returned having broke the lock of his gun: but the other two went on by land, as the swells ran so high that they could not possibly get the canoe along. About the same time some Indians in a canoe came up the river, and had stolen a gig from the men; but the one who returned got it from them again when he came up. In the evening Captain Lewis with 4 men started by land to see if any white people were to be found. The rest remained in camp; and the weather continued wet, and the most disagreeable I had ever seen.
Thursday Novemr. 13th [6] The storm continued hard during the whole of last night, and this morning we have rainey disagreeable weather. The waves continued to run very high and we continued at our encampment waiting for moderate weather. We have nothing to subsist on but fresh fish, & pounded Salmon; which is by no means nourishing. One of the Men that had went down the River Yesterday [crossed out, illegible] returned by land. He informed us that he had been at an Indian Village near the mouth of the River, but had not seen any white people. Captain Lewis & 4 of our party set out in order to go down to that Indian Village by land. The waves continued high & the Storm continued during the whole of this day.—
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