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Lewis & Clark Expedition

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July 30, 1806
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July 30, 1806

[Lewis]

Wednesday July 30th 1806.
 

The rain still continued this morning it was therefore unnecessary to remain as we could not dry our baggage    I Consequently set out early as usual and pursued my rout downwards.    the currant being strong and the men anxious to get on they plyed their oars faithfully and we went at the rate of about seven miles an hour.    we halted several times in the course of the day to kill some bighorns being anxious to procure a few more skins and skeletons of this animal; I was fortunate enough to procure one other malle and female for this purpose which I had prepared accordingly.    seven others were killed by the party also 2 buffaloe one Elk 2 beaver with & a female brown bear with tallons 6¼ inches in length. I preserved the skin of this bear also with the tallons; it was not large and in but low order.    we arrived this evening at an island about 2 ms. above Goodriches Island and encamped on it's N. E. side. [1]    the rain continued with but little intermission all day; the air is cold and extreemly disagreeable.    nothing extraordinary happened today

[Clark]

(30th July) 30th
 
N. 14° W.   3 miles to a Lard Bluff    passed an Island and 2 gravelly bars
N. 40° E   6 miles to the enteranc of a dry Brook with Stard. Bend
Passed the enteranc of a river 100 yds wide below the
Lard. Bluff at 5 miles. Som wood on this River.    (rained)
N. 30° W   1 ¾ miles to a tree in Lard bend
N 60° E.   1 ¼ miles to a Bluff in a Stard. bend    passed a Shoal ⅔ across
th river from the Lard. Side
North   1 ½ mile to 3 trees in a Lard. bend    passed a large dry Creek
on the Stard. at ½ a mile 80 yds
N 70° E   4 miles to the point of a Clift on the Stard. Side    opposit to
the great Shoal quite across the riv    rock dark brown
Sand.    this may be run with ease and Safty in a large Canoe
N E.   3 mils to a bush in a naked point on the Lard Side    passed a
large dry brook on each Side    low Bluff on the Stard. Side
N. 20° E   1 mile to the head of an Island    low bluff on Std.    no wood
on either side    Passed a Brook on Stard. Side
N. 10° W.   2 ½ miles to the enterance of a large dry Creek on the Lard
Side above a bluff    passed 1 on the Stard.
N 70° E   1 mile to Brook on the Stard Bend    passed a high bluff on
the Lard. for ½ ml.
North   1 ½ miles to the enteranc of a 〈large〉 small dry Creek in the
Lard. Bend near a high Bluff
N. 20° E.   1 mile to a large dry Brook in Std. bend
N. 5° W.   2 miles the Center Lard Bend    rocks on both Sides in the
bottom but little wood
N. 30° E.   2 miles to a Stard. point
East   2 miles to a Stard Bend    passd. a Brook on each Side but
little wood
N. 20° E.   1 ½ miles on the Stard. Bend    passed a Brook on Stard Side
low bluff Lard.
North   1 〈2〉 ½ miles to a few bushes in a Lard Bend
N. E   1 mile to a Brook which discharges itself on the Stard. Side
in the Center of a rapid I call Bear rapid    not bad    a god
Chanel on the Lard. Side
N. W   ¾ of a m. to a bluff in the Lard Bend    passed a dry river 88
yds chanel and nearly ¼ of a mile when high—
N. E.   2〈3〉¼ miles to a Bluff in a Stard. Bend    passed a bar on Stard.
point
North   4〈5〉½ miles    passed a low bluff on each Side a 〈large Brook〉 at
3 River 100 yards wide Shallow & very muddy    I take this
to be the [blank] River, it discharges a great deel of mud
and red stones    has latterly been high—    at 4 ms. passed
large dry Brook a Lard. low bluff on each side. [2]
  45  

[Clark]

Friday 30th July 1806
 

Set out early this morning    at 12 miles arived at the Commencement of Shoals the Chanel on the Stard Side near a high bluff.    passed a Succession of those Shoals for 6 miles the lower of which was quit across the river and appeared to have a decent of about 3 feet.    here we were Compeled to let the Canoes down by hand for fear of their Strikeing a rock under water and Splitting. This is by far the wost place which I have Seen on this river from the Rocky mountains to this place    a distance of 694 miles by water.    a Perogu or large Canoe would with Safty pass through the worst of those Shoals, which I call the Buffalow Sholes [3] from the Circumstance of one of those animals being in them.    the rock which passes the river at those Sholes appear hard and gritty of a dark brown Colour. [4]    the Clifts on the Stard. Side is about 100 feet in hight, on the Lard Side the Country is low and the bottom rises gradually back.    here is the first appearance of Birnt hills [5] which I have Seen on this river they are at a distance from the river on the Lard Side. I landed at the enterance of a dry Creek [6] on the Lard side below the Shoals and took brackfast. Those Dry Rivers, Creeks &c are like those of the Missouri which take their rise in and are the Conveyance of the water from those plains.    they have the appearanc of dischargeing emence torrents of water.    the late rains which has fallen in the plains raised Sudenly those Brooks which receive the water of those plains on which those Suden & heavy Showers of rain must have fallen, Several of which I have Seen dischargeing those waters, whiles those below heading or takeing their rise in the Same neighbourhood, as I passed them appears to have latterly been high.    those Broods discharge emencely of mud also, which Contributes much to the muddiness of the river.    after Brackfast proceeded on    the river much narrower than above    from 3 to 400 yards wide only and only a fiew scattering trees to be Seen on the banks.    at 20 miles below the Buffalow Shoals passed a rapid which is by no means dangerous, it has a number of large rocks in different parts of the river which Causes high waves    a very good Chanel on the Lard. Side.    this rapid I call Bear rapid [7] from the Circumstance of a bears being on a rock in the Middle of this rapid when I arived at it.    a violent Storm from the N. W. obliged us to land imediately below this rapid, draw up the Canoes and take Shelter in an old Indian Lodge above the enterance of a river which is nearly dry    it has laterly been very high and Spread over nearly ¼ a mile in width. its Chanel is 88 yards and in this there is not more water than could pass through an inch auger hole. I call it Yorks dry R. [8]    after the rain and wind passed over I proceeded on at 7 Miles    passed the enterance of a river [9] the water of which is 100 yds wide, the bead of this river nearly ¼ of a mile    this river is Shallow and the water very muddy and of the Colour of the banks a darkish brown. [10] I observe great quantities of red Stone [11] thrown out of this river that from the appearance of the hills at a distance on its lower Side induced me to call this red Stone river.    [NB: By a coincidence I found the Indian name Wa ha Sah ] [12]    as the water was disagreeably muddy I could not Camp on that Side below its mouth.    however I landed at its enteranc and Sent out and killed two fat Cows, and took as much of the flesh as the Canoes would conveniently Carry and Crossed the river and encamped at the enterance of a Brook on the Lard. Side under a large Spredding Cotton tree. [13] The river on which we passed to day is not So wide as above    containing but fiew islands with a Small quantity of Cotton timber.    no timber of any kind to be Seen on the high lands on either Side.

Course distance and Remarks 30th July
      M
N. 32° E. to the lower part of a wood in the Stard. Bend } 2 ½
  opposit the head of an island near the Lard Side
N. 14° W. to a Lard. Bluff    passed an island and 2 bars   3
N. 40° E. to the enterance of a dry brook [14] in the Stard } 6
  Bend passed the enterance of a [EC: Dry] [15] river
  below the Lard Bluff 100 yards wide nearly dry
  at 5 miles on this River    there appears to be
  Some Cotton wood
N. 30° W. to a tree in the Lard. Bend 1 ¾
N. 60° E. to a Bluff in the Stard. Bend    pass a rocky Shoal } 1 ¼
  ⅔ of the river from the Lard Side
North to 3 trees in the Lard Bend    passed a large dry } 1 ½
  Creek 60 yards wide on the Stard. side [16]
N. 70° E. to the point of a clift on the Stard. Side opposit } 4
  to the great Shoal.    a dark brow rock quit
  across [17] passeable
N. 45° E. to a bush on the Lard point    passed a dry brook } 3
  [EC: Sand Cr. ] on each side. [18]    a low bluff on the
  Stard. Side
N. 20° E. to the head of an island.    passed a brook [19] on } 1
  the Stard. Side and a low bluff, no wood on ei-
  ther Side
N. 10° W. to the enterance of a large dry Creek [EC: Muster } 2 ½
  Cr. ] [20] on the Lard. Side above a bluff.    passed
  one on the Stard. Side [21]
N. 70° E. to a Brook [22] in the Stard. Bend    passed a high } 1
  bluff on the Lard. Side for ½ a mile
North to the enterance of a Small dry Creek [23] in the } 1 ½
  Lard Bend near a high bluff
N. 20° E. to a large dry brook [EC: Cottonwood ] [24] in a Stard. 1 ½
  Bend
N. 5° W. to the Center of a Lard. Bend rocks on both Sides   2
N. 30° E. to a Stard. point 2
East to a Stard. Bend passed a dry brook [EC: Wolf Cr } 2
  (N.)] [25] on each Side
N. 20° E. to a hollow in the Stard. Bend    passed a Brook [26] } 1 ½
  on the Stard. Side.    low bluffs [EC: Devil's Back-
  bone] on the Lard. Side
North to a fiew bushes in a lard. Bend   1 ½
N. 45° E. to a Brook [27] which discharges itself on the Stard. } 1
  Side at white Bear island rapids.    not bad
N. 45° W. to a Bluff in the Lard. Bend, below the enterance }      ¾
  of a dry river [EC: York's ] 88 yard Chanel, and
  when it is high spreads over nearly ¼ of a mile in
  width    York
N. 45° E. to a Bluff in the Stard. Bend    passed a bar Std. pt. 2 ¼
North to the Center of a Lard. bend low bluffs on } 4 ½
  each Side at 3 miles    passed redstone river [EC:
  Powder R. ] on the Stard. Side 100 yards water &
  near ¼ of a mile Chanel very muddy; at 4 Miles
  encamped at the enterance of a large dry brook
  on the Lard.
  Miles   48

In the evening below the enterance of redstone river I observed great numbers of Buffalow feeing on the plains, elk on the points and antilopes. I also Saw Some of the Bighorn animals at a distance on the hills. Gibson is now able to walk, he walked out this evening and killed an antilope.

[Ordway]

 

Wednesday 30th July 1806.    cloudy and wet.    we Set out eairly and proceeded on verry well    our hunters killed 2 buffaloe    I and Willard killed a white bear. Some of the hunters killed 4 Ibex and 2 beavers.    rained all day. Camped on an Island.—

[Gass]

 

Wednesday 30th.    We embarked early in a cloudy morning with some rain. In our way through this high range of mountains, we killed four more of the large horned animals, two buffaloe, two beaver and a bear.

The water of the river is thick and muddy, on account of the late falls of rain, which wash those clay hills very much. We went down the river upwards of 70 miles to day, and encamped on a prairie island. Heavy rain fell at intervals during the day.

1. Atlas map 40 seems to place Lewis's campsite on Goodrich's Island, just below the campsite of May 25, 1805. However, Lewis's journal entry places the camp on the upriver side of the sharp bend above Goodrich's Island. His wording leaves it unclear whether he actually camped on the nameless island or on the bank northeast of it in Blaine County, Montana. Ordway and Gass make clear that the camp was on the island. This area is a few miles below Cow Creek and Cow Island Crossing. MRC map 71. (back)
2. The following figures appear in a column in the right margin beside the last course of this day: 191, 189, 380, 80, 73, 44; the third figure is a sub-total. For the first two figures see the draft courses for July 27, 1806. The last three appear to be the mileages for July 27, 28, and 29, with discrepancies. (back)
3. Buffalo Shoals are in Custer County, Montana, just below the mouth of Sand Creek, "Little dry River" on Atlas map 120. (back)
4. The shoals are formed of more indurated sandstone or, possibly, concretions in the Tullock Member of the Fort Union Formation. (back)
5. The Tongue River Member of the Fort Union Formation approaches the river near here, but caps the higher hills only. It contains thicker and more continuous coal beds than the Tullock Member, and many of these beds have been burned extensively forming red clinker. (back)
6. Muster Creek in Custer County, meeting the Yellowstone River near Kinsey; on Atlas map 120 it appears as "Dry creek." (back)
7. Bear Rapid is in Prairie County, Montana, a little above the mouth of Custer Creek. Atlas map 121. (back)
8. The name, of course, derived from Clark's servant York; the stream is present Custer Creek in Prairie County. Atlas map 121. The words appear to be a later addition, interlined by Clark in a different shaded ink. (back)
9. Powder River meets the Yellowstone in Prairie County; on Atlas map 121 it is "War har sah River    red stone R." See an additional note below. (back)
10. The color of the material in the banks is derived largely from coal detritus. (back)
11. The red stone is clinker. Much of the clinker comes from the area along the Powder River nearly due east of Miles City. (back)
12. The Indian name, presumably learned from the Mandans or Hidatsas, is "War-rah-sash" in Fort Mandan Miscellany. Biddle seems to imply here in this interjected sentence that the translation is "red stone river," but in the Fort Mandan document the implied meaning is Powder River, the source of the modern name. It is a Mandan term, wárašuŋte, "powder." (back)
13. Clark's camp was in Prairie County, a little below and opposite the mouth of Powder River ("War har sah"), at the mouth of Crooked Creek, a nameless stream on Atlas map 121. The site is not marked on the Atlas map. (back)
14. Jones Creek meets the Yellowstone in Custer County, just above Tusler; on Atlas map 120 it is a nameless stream nearly opposite the mouth of Sunday Creek ("Big dry River"). (back)
15. In addition to his penciled interlineations, Coues has underscored some words in pencil, but the underlinings are not shown here. The stream is Sunday Creek ("Big dry River") and given as one hundred and twenty yards wide on Atlas map 120. (back)
16. This is difficult to identify with any known stream, unless Clark meant "larboard," in which case it could be Sand Creek in Custer County, just above Buffalo Shoals, evidently the "Little dry River" of Atlas map 120. (back)
17. The shoals are formed of more indurated sandstone or, possibly, concretions in the Tullock Member of the Fort Union Formation. (back)
18. Muster Creek on the larboard and Dixon Creek on the starboard, both in Custer County; they are "Dry creek 40 yards wide" and "dry brook," respectively, on Atlas map 120. The interlined "Sand Cr." is Coues's guess as to the larboard creek's identity. (back)
19. Deep Creek in Custer County; a nameless stream meeting the Yellowstone from the south on Atlas map 120. (back)
20. Harris Creek meets the Yellowstone in Custer County west of present Shirley; on Atlas map 120 it is a nameless stream just below an island in the river. The interlined "Muster Cr." is Coues's guess as to its identity. (back)
21. Hay Creek in Custer County, opposite and a little above Harris Creek; it is nameless on Atlas map 120. (back)
22. Dead Horse Creek in Custer County now empties into Buffalo Rapids Ditch which runs parallel to the Yellowstone; another small, nameless stream on the south side of the river on Atlas map 120. (back)
23. Cabin Creek in Custer County, on the north side of the Yellowstone, nameless on Atlas map 120. (back)
24. Cottonwood Creek, as Coues interlined, in Custer County, meeting the Yellowstone south of Bonfield, a nameless stream on Atlas map 120. (back)
25. Mack Creek on the starboard and an unnamed creek on the larboard, both in Custer County, both nameless on Atlas map 120. "Wolf Cr (N.)" would be Coues's name for the larboard stream. (back)
26. Williams Creek in Custer and Prairie counties, nameless on Atlas map 121. "Devils Backbone," interlined by Coues, is a name in use in his time for the larboard bluffs. Coues (HLC), 3:1162 n. 23. That name may have referred to an irregular hill about a mile west of the river across from the mouth of Williams Creek rather than to the bluffs. (back)
27. Camp Creek in Prairie County, reaching the Yellowstone at "Bear Rapid," nearly opposite the mouth of Custer Creek ("Yorks dry River" on Atlas map 121). (back)
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