The Journals of Lewis & Clark: Lewis, July 20, 1806

Updated May 14, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Lewis, July 20, 1806

Sunday July 20th 1806

We set at sunrise and proceed through the open plain as yesterday up the North side of the river. the plains are more broken than they were yesterday and have become more inferior in point of soil; a great quanty of small gravel is every where distributed over the surface of the earth which renders travling extreemly painfull to our bearfoot horses. the soil is generally a white or whiteish blue clay, this where it has been trodden by the buffaloe when wet has now become as firm as a brickbat and stands in an inumerable little points quite as formidable to our horses feet as the gravel. the mineral salts common to the plains of the missouri has been more abundant today than usual. the bluffs of the river are about 200 feet high, steep irregular and formed of earth which readily desolves with water, slips and precipitates itself into the river as before mentioned frequentlly of the bluffs of the Missouri below which they resemble in every particular, differing essencially from those of the Missouri above the entrance of this river, they being composed of firm red or yellow clay which dose not yeald readily to the rains and a large quantity of rock. the soil of the river bottom is fertile and well timbered, I saw some trees today which would make small canoes. the timber is generally low. the underbrush the same as before mentioned. we have seen fewer buffaloe today than usual, though more Elk and not less wolves and Antelopes also some mule deer; this speceis of deer seems most prevalent in this quarter. saw some gees ducks and other birds common to the country. there is much appearance of beaver on this river, but not any of otter. from the apparent decent of the country to the North and above the broken mountains I am induced to beleive that the South branch of the Suskashawan receives a part of it's waters from the plain even to the borders of this river and from the brakes visible in the plains in a nothern direction think that a branch of that river decending from the rocky mountains passes at no great distance from Maria's river and to the N. E. of the broken mountains. the day has proved excessively warm and we lay by four hours during the heat of it; we traveled 28 miles and encamped as usual in the river bottom on it's N. side. there is scarcely any water at present in the plains and what there is, lies in small pools and is so strongly impregnated with the mineral salts that it is unfit for any purpose except the uce of the buffaloe. these animals appear to prefer this water to that of the river. the wild liquorice and sunflower are very abundant in the plains and river bottoms, the latter is now in full blume; the silkgrass and sand rush are also common to the bottom lands. the musquetoes have not been troublesome to us since we left the whitebear islands.-