July 17, 1833
Early in the morning, very warm, slightly overcast sky, then hot sunshine. We went out early for the wounded elk, but since the boat did not wait, [we could not go] far enough. Bodmer, who had [also] gone out for it, heard the wolves howling and slashing at each other in the thicket; without doubt the stag had perished at that place. We abandoned it. Mr. Mitchell and I went 100 paces across driftwood to the place where, on 15 July last year, the keelboat Beaver had been wrecked. We found the exact spot. It had been moored 800 paces farther upstream, where the storm had torn it loose during the night. Two men had drowned as a result, and Mr. Mitchell had escaped by a tremendous leap from the deck onto land. One hundred paces farther, a small fort 40 paces long and enclosed with tree trunks had been erected, of which we [could] now find just the back wall. At that time the whole place had been sand; now 5-foot-tall, one-year-old willows were growing there and the river had torn away land 100 paces wide—the fort was 40 paces long and had been located quite a stretch from the river that now washed against its rear wall. Several interesting plants were growing here: the [— —] with beautifully pinnate leaves and white flowers, which in some places grew tall and completely filled the willow thickets; in addition, the beautiful blue Linum [— —], whose flax, despite [— —], is supposedly European [— —]; a beautiful species of grass ([— —]); the Apocynum [— —], with milky juice; and several others.
We worked our way out of the channel and followed the bank left along a beautiful prairie with a whitish overgrowth of Artemisia. At 7:30, 80°F [26.7°C]. We arrived at the spot on the prairie where our hunters had shot a buffalo cow yesterday and left part of the meat lying there. Then they had spent the whole day in the shade of the nearby forest edge and roasted venison. These hunters are often coarser than savages. They and the Canadian engagés, when they shoot an animal, usually or often eat the liver raw. Often one sees them cut a calf out of its mother’s body and stuff it along with the placenta and all the membranes into a kettle and boil them. They often eat the legs and nose of [an] unborn calf raw; others eat the external sex organs of the buffalo cow raw.
We continued to follow the mostly steep bank along the prairie; it alternated with forest. At a certain place a beautiful, regular beaver lodge was situated before a protruding cape. It consisted of a conical, 4- to 5-foot-high pile of sticks, dry wood, and twigs, [with] a small entrance on top. Inside it consists of earth or loam with pieces of wood and contains chambers where the animals remain dry above the water.
![Figure 11.6. Two views of a beaver lodge. Right: A dirt bridge, ‘b,’ about 3–4 paces long [and] containing some wood, leads from the land to the wooden cone.](https://maximilian-bodmer.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/figure11-06.png)
Unfortunately, we could not stop here to inspect this interesting structure. The area is generally flat on this stretch of the river, but after about an hour we reached low earth bluffs of clay near which the river turned right. Men had been sent ashore to cut ash wood for axe handles, since one cannot find sturdy ash wood of this kind farther upstream. At the bend the Missouri now made, there was forest on the right bank and willow thickets on the left one above the sand. Here we were refreshed by a slight breeze. Right behind the bend, a pretty brook, or creek, issued from the willow thickets, the name of which no one knew; people said it was “une rivière sans dessein.” This is probably the Big Dry River of Lewis and Clark, but the name is not correct, for now, as well as last August, the brook had sufficient water [for] Mr. Mitchell [to] follow it 5 miles upstream.
After noon, when it was very hot (we had a temperature of 86° or 87°F [30° or 30.6°C] at twelve o’clock), we crossed over to the right bank and followed it. We followed the wooded bank and a long prairie where several hunters went ashore.
At four o’clock dark clouds appeared and a wind came up. We again crossed the river, where [upon] Bodmer swam to the ship. He had seen a doe and a fawn. On the left bank we again sent the men out with the cordelle. They had scarcely left when they killed a big rattlesnake (Crotalus tergeminus). Maxant, the steward, had been in the forest with a half-breed; they had shot a bison in the mud and were quite close to two bears but did not want to shoot at them. Deschamps and Papin returned; [they] had shot a large bull elk. They had scarcely arrived when a thunder-and-lightning storm passed and sent us an ungentle wind, which forced us to halt, cast anchor, lay out ropes, and take down the mast. The wind lasted about an hour. The sunset was magnificent, the whole sky red, but we feared [we would have] a bad night. About ten o’clock, better weather: calm, very warm, some mosquitoes.