July 13, 1833
Early in the morning, cool and somewhat windy, [with] sunshine. During the night there had been a severe storm. We continued on, but on the right bank, to which we had crossed, [we] soon came to a spot where, because of shallow water, we could not proceed. We stayed here for about an hour, and the men had breakfast. Meanwhile, on the opposite shore, we saw a big black bear, which went into the thicket, and accordingly five hunters were rowed over there. They could not find the bear but shot a deer. Because the wind had turned strong again, the journey was not resumed for the time being.
I went out and followed the river upstream for a short distance. The thicket of willows, cottonwoods, roses, and other plants was so dense and had so much dry timber that I could barely penetrate it. Here and there I found small game trails with huge tracks of elk, buffalo, and deer. We also tracked a big bear on the bank. I finally entered a somewhat more sparsely grown area where there were nice green areas suitable for the grazing of game animals. Farther on, there were thickets alternating with rough, open, thorny spots [where] I found a pair of prairie-hens (Tetrao phasianellus); I shot the female. I saw a small suslik but did not get it. Later, on the way back, I got so far into the thicket that, for over one and a half hours, I thrashed and flailed about in it, completely lost direction, and only after the greatest exertion and many vain attempts again reached the river and our ship. Papin was also back; he had seen a huge bear, which, however, had taken flight toward the forest. At twelve o’clock, 69°F [20.1°C]. In the afternoon someone had seen a pair of swans on a dead arm of the Missouri in our vicinity. We went out again. In the thicket we not infrequently found the Icteria with the yellow breast, which likes to creep into the darkest thickets. On the edge of the prairie, a leaning tree on which lay an Assiniboine wrapped in hides. The trunk of the tree was smeared with red coloring. On a nearby limb of the tree hung the saddle, with stirrups, of the dead man.
At a quarter past four, the wind had subsided considerably; we left our place with the boat, lifted the anchor lying in the river, and pushed up in the middle of the river. The weather was very pleasant now, but after half an hour we ran aground and sent out the boat dinghy to pull us free. We freed ourselves, ran aground for the second time, and did not reach the left bank until twenty minutes past six. Messrs. Mitchell and Bodmer went ashore to hunt a little more. They returned; [they] had discovered fresh tracks of a large bear but had not seen anything. Evening pleasant, somewhat cool. We remained at the left bank.