Departure from Fort Union – Rattlesnakes in rosebushes – Deer (Cervus virginianus) numerous as well as elk – 2,000 Miles River – Elkhorn – Prairie with deer antler pyramid – Buffalo hunts – Deer, bears, rattlesnakes – Beaver lodge – Successful bear hunts – Milk River, frontier of the Assiniboines – Successful bison hunt – Tetrao urophasianus – Beginning of the rugged, magnificent, mountainous world of nature – Thunderstorm – More level region – Petrified shells – Thunderstorm – Musselshell River – Halfway from Fort Union to Fort Piegan – Conifers on the hills – Little Rocky Mountains – Bear in a tree – Many, mostly dry creeks – Many rattlesnakes – Tea Island, good hunting there – Beginning of the rapids at Wincher’s [Windsor’s] Creek – Beginning of the Mauvaises-Terres – Elk Fawn Rapid – The bighorn and the difficulty hunting it – Judith River – Meeting with the Gros Ventre des Prairies – Bartering at their camp – Visit of large numbers of them on ship – Striking Missouri valley – Incredible sandstone formations – Large number of bighorn – The Stone Walls – Bighorn in large troops – View of the Bears Paw Mountain – Several Blood Indians on board – First view of the Rocky Mountains, or Oregon Mountains – Old Fort Piegan – Mouth of the Marias River (Marayon) – Unpleasant situation and precautionary measures against the Indians – Failed reconnaissance of Fort McKenzie – Meeting with the first residents of the fort – Arrival there
July 10, 1833
Beautiful, bright, warm day. We had a respite from the mosquitoes all night, but after seven o’clock in the morning, they appeared again as we traveled along the thick willow thickets of the bank with sand deposits. At 7:30, 70°F [21.1°C]. Our journey proceeded very slowly; because of the many points difficult to navigate around, we had not covered more than 10 miles on either of the previous two days. Our hunters went out early to hunt. Fresh meat is needed, for after one and a half days, little is left of the large elk and the two deer killed yesterday. To the right we saw a very red deer moving before the willow thickets. Beautiful butterflies frequently came onto the ship, and several were caught there. Beside us the bank often collapsed, although the trees here were not very old and heavy. The hunters returned; they had shot three buffalo and a grizzly bear. The bear lay beyond a channel, which one would have had to swim across. Therefore, we did not go there to fetch it, because its skin was poor. The hunter had cut off its claws.
The entire crew and all of us left to cut up the three bison and bring in the meat. We broke our way through the forest until we reached the prairie; it was there that the bison lay, about a half an hour away, where one could see some of them. Because it was so far, I stayed in the forest with Dreidoppel and let the others go for the buffalo. In the forest I shot a magpie (Corvus pica) for the first time. There were two fully grown young ones; Dreidoppel shot the other one. Somewhat farther [on], I found a pair of adult great horned owls (Strix virginiana) on an old trunk and shot one of them, which we did not get, however. Icteria viridis, that lively bird, was not uncommon in this forest. The undergrowth of roses and red willows with Symphoria was so dense and thorny, and so unbelievably full of mosquitoes as well, that one could not load [a gun]. The heat was intense, and there was no breeze. In the nearby prairie, we found the cactus with yellow-green stamens in most beautiful blossom, [along with] Cactus mammillaris. Insects in large number sat on the blossoms. We found at least six or eight antlers from elk, though not outstanding: the largest with eight points. The ground of the prairie was hard white clay on which there were only a few plants here and there. Myriads of beautiful yellow asters [— —] were blooming everywhere.
At 11:30 we returned to the ship at the same time [as] the men with the buffalo meat. They had found one of the buffalo still alive and shot it dead, but [the carcass] remained unused, since they were able to bring back meat from only two of them. They had seen three others besides. At twelve o’clock, 74°F [23.3°C]. We continued our journey; along the prairie, where the forest ended, the men with the cordelle found such deep mud that they sank into it above their loins and, with great laughter, crawled [from it] on their hands and feet. From here on, we followed the river between flat banks covered on both sides with forest or willow thickets. We crossed to the right bank; large areas caved in and splashed water up into the cabin. Trees, which had already destroyed several keelboats here by plunging down, no longer threatened us.
Navigation with keelboats up and down the Missouri was once the only kind of any importance, for only in the past three years has anyone tried to use steamboats for this purpose. [A keelboat] journey from St. Louis to Fort Piegan usually lasted eight months and was dangerous besides. Shipping with steamboats goes well when the water is at [a] medium level, but it is not without danger. When there is high water, navigation downstream proceeds swiftly and easily.
Messrs. Mitchell and Bodmer went out to comb the forest. Because of today’s heat, we drank a lot of water; in the Missouri it is mixed with so much sand or earth that, if one scoops out a glass of it, one has in a moment a great deal of sediment. In spite of this, it is healthful and cool.
Messrs. Mitchell and Bodmer had found many wild doves (Columba migratoria), and the former had shot down one with his rifle. They [also] found the very fresh, large track of a bear as well as its droppings and the remains of an Assiniboine in a tree. The whole forest had undergrowth and thickets of roses where rather ripe gooseberries grew as well; to [these] the ship’s crew eagerly ran.
Toward six o’clock the sky became overcast; a slight breeze blew, and the mosquitoes were less troublesome. The river turned left toward the hill chain, which here was not very high or distinctive. We did not travel much farther; dark clouds were gathering and a severe wind arose, and we therefore remained for the night near a prairie [on] the right bank. Here we found a fawn and a prairie-hen in the small bushes; a brood of young kingbirds had just left the nest. After half an hour, the storm clouds dispersed [and] the wind subsided. On the other hand, at 9:30 a faint northern light appeared on the northern horizon; [the] temperature [was] pleasant. The sky was somewhat covered with clouds; therefore, we could not see the phenomenon in its full scope. Its rays shot upward, but no sound could be perceived. Part of our crew slept under tall cottonwoods on the bank.