The Journals of Lewis & Clark: Lewis, May 22, 1806

Updated May 14, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Lewis, May 22, 1806

Thursday May 22ed 1806. A fine morning we exposed all our baggage to air and dry as well as our store of roots and bread purchased from the natives. permited Windsor and McNeal to go to the indian village. Sergt. Ordway and Goodrich returned this morning with a good store of roots and bread. about noon 2 indian men came down the river on a raft and continued at our camp about 3 hours and returned to their village. we.sent out Shannon and Colter to hunt towards the mountains. we sent Sergt. Pryor down to the entrance of Collins's Creek to examine the country and look out for a good position for an encampment on the river below that Creek, having determined to remove our camp below that crek if it continues high, as soon as we have completed our canoe, as the country to which we are confined to hunt at present is limited by this creek and river to a very narrow tract, and game have already become scarce. if we can obtain a good situation below the entrance of this creek it will be much more eligible as the hunting country is more extensive and game more abundant than above. The horse which the indians have given us to kill was driven away yesterday by the natives with a gang of their horses I presume in mistake; being without meat at noon we directed one of the largest of our colts to be killed. we found the flesh of this animal fat tender and by no means illy flavoured. we have three others which we mean to reserve for the rocky mountains if we can subsist here without them. my horse which was castrated the day before yesterday wounded his thigh on the inner side with the rope by which he was confined that evening and is now so much swolen with the wound the castraiting and the collection of vermen that he cannot walk, in short he is the most wretched specticle; I had his wounds clensed of the vermen by washing them well with a strong decoction of the bark of the roots & leaves of elder but think the chances are against his recovery. at 3 P.M. we observed a large party of Indians on horseback in pursuit of a deer which they ran into the river opposite to our camp; Capt. C. Myself & three of our men shot and killed the deer in the water; the indians pursued it on a raft and caught it. it is astonishing to see these people ride down those steep hills which they do at full speed. on our return to camp we found Drewyer the Two Feildses Gibson and Sheilds just arrived with five deer which they had killed at a considerable distance towards the mountains. they also brought with them two red salmon trout which they had purchased from some indians whom they had met with on their return to camp.- Two Indians who were just arrived at our camp informed us that these salmon trout remained in this river the greater part of the winter, that they were not good at this season which we readily discovered, they were very meagre. these indians also informed us that there were at this time a great number of salmon at no great distance from hence in Lewis's river which had just arrived and were very fat and fine, they said it would be some yet before they would ascend this river as high as this place. a party of the natives on the opposite shore informed those with us that a party of the Shoshones had two nights past surrounded a lodge of their nation on the South side of Lewis's river, that the inhabitants having timely discovered the enimy effected their retreat in the course of the night and escaped. Charbono's Child is very ill this evening; he is cuting teeth, and for several days past has had a violent lax, which having suddonly stoped he was attacked with a high fever and his neck and throat are much swolen this evening. we gave him a doze of creem of tartar and flour of sulpher and applyed a poltice of boiled onions to his neck as warm as he could well bear it. Sergt. Pryor returned late in the evening and informed us that he had been down the river eight miles and that the clifts set in so abruptly to the river he could get no further without returning several miles back and ascending the hills and that he had thought it best to return and ride down tomorrow on the high plain as he believed the mouth of the creek was a considerable distance. Drewyer who has been at the place informs us that it is about 10 ms. and that there is no situation on the river for some distance below this creek which can possibly answer our purposes.- we dryed our baggage &c perfectly and put it up.-