June 25, 1833
During the night they had already begun unloading [and reloading] the steamboat. Eight hundred bales (ten pieces each) of buffalo hides were loaded, but during the afternoon, while this work was going on, a heavy storm broke with a real downpour, so that many hides became wet [and] had to be taken back and dried. Moisture is very harmful for such hides. But up here there are no moths at all, and in this regard, one can leave the hides lying for fifteen years without detriment. Besides the bison hides, many hides of beaver, wolf, and the like were also loaded: sixty-two packs of wolf and fox pelts, about one hundred pieces in each. The number of bison in these inland plains is enormous; in one year the Missouri (Fur) Company received 42,000 such hides at its various agencies; (they) are sold for four dollars each.
Today there was much activity and movement in the fort; all day long things were carried back and forth in small wheelbarrows, for all of which the weather was rather unfavorable. The Assiniboines and the Blackfoot were everywhere and constantly demanded or requested things. In particular, they were constantly looking for Indian tobacco (called kinnikinnick by the whites), made from the finely ground or cut bark of the red willow (Cornus sericea) and about one-third tobacco. [They] were too lazy to make any for themselves. The tobacco that the Fur company supplies them is strong and is rolled into 6- to 8-inch-long, black, sticky, twice-turned twists. Most of these Indians did not even have pipes. They looked rather wretched and dirty, which is the general reputation of the Assiniboines. They have a special room here in the fort where they sleep and cook.
Today we ate in the fort; [the] food [was] very plain and suitable for the wilderness, a strong contrast with that on the steamboat, where we had very good white bread, crackers, various kinds of meat, always fresh, various vegetables, beans, potatoes, preserved fruit, buffalo tongues, [and] venison of elk, deer, [and] antelope, [again] always fresh.
During the afternoon we went for a short walk on the prairie behind the fort. Few plants were blooming. Cactus opuntia without flowers was very numerous. Buffalo bones lay about everywhere. Big dogs, which one could have taken for wolves, were out individually on the prairie. About 1 mile behind the fort, the hill chain, which here is low, runs parallel to the course of the Missouri. Here and there on their domes there are individual odd rock formations or single stones; they consist of [— —]. On the most outstanding one, the Assiniboines have erected a kind of sign or medicine device. Large rocks with an oblong shape stand upright; at their base there are other, rounder ones; and on top there is a bison skull. Mr. Bodmer sketched one of these.
From these hills one has a beautiful view of the river, the fort, the nearby hill chains, and the vast prairie, on which the fort’s horses are grazing—about sixty head. Armed men must guard and watch them, because there is nothing the Indians love more than stealing horses. In the evening the horses are driven into the yard of the fort, where they are secure for the night. Mr. Bodmer sketched a view of the region from those hills. In the evening Caprimulgus americanus streaks about on the prairie. On all such excursions, it is said that one must always be on the lookout for Indians; their war parties continually roam through the area, and they usually take everything that comes their way. They hide in the ravines and thickets and have already killed many persons in this manner.
The Assiniboines living in the area have a high regard for Mr. McKenzie [and] occasionally bring him nice presents. Last year, or one of the previous years, they brought him a beautifully ornamented leather garment [robe]. All the Indians had gathered in the yard. They placed Mr. McKenzie on this leather garment and carried him out of his house into the yard.
The evening was more pleasant than the afternoon; the cool weather checked the mosquitoes. In the evening and during the night, lightning bolts and sheet lightning.
