Early at dawn we sailed off. The morning was calm [and] rather warm; the sky cloudy. It looked as if it would rain. A few miles down the river, we put in on the right bank for breakfast. The mountain chain, located here on the prairie about 600 to 800 paces distant from the bank, had altogether the [same] formation [as that] in the Mauvaises-Terres, with small, black spots of bushes and Juniperus prostrata. The color and formation were completely [those] of the [above-] mentioned mountains. They are high here and far more significant than the ones seen earlier. In front of these mountains there was a sandy plain with solitary bushes [and] dry driftwood inhabited by the striped ground squirrel. [There were also] Xanthium strumarium, the yellow Helianthus, the recently collected plant ([——]), [and] ash, cottonwood, and similar trees. There were game tracks everywhere. [I saw] two prairie hens, a flock of small finches, Lanius septentrionalis, crows, and magpies. I went hunting but did not shoot anything. At nine thirty we left the place. It was cold; overcast sky; a light wind was blowing. Slightly farther on, the hills [were closer] to the river. They had some red spots and several black stripes (coal layers). We took samples from both. The place where we put ashore was a wildly devastated, collapsed bank; behind it, in depressions, bushes below short, curled trees. There were burrows of foxes [and] holes of squirrels and other rodents.

Whitish and yellowish brown sandstone, as well as chunks of black lignite, lay everywhere. We found chunks of the black mass still attached to the gray sandstone. Dreidoppel saw a small ground squirrel. On the right bank extensive cottonwood forests were located. In front of the hills, the cottonwoods retreated. On the other hand, the [formations] on the left bank had entirely the look and the character of the Mauvaises-Terres, the same color and height; in the middle region [was] a layer of red clay rising in front of small red, cone-shaped tops. We reached them at eleven thirty. Solitary hills looking like vol-au-vents rose on the promontory; some were shaped very strangely. The day was so raw and cool that writing was difficult. Narrow layers of sandstone, located between the clay [strata?] of the hills, protruded, often with rough edges, protruded where loose clay and sand had fallen off. In the ravines red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) grew. In these mountains there are bighorn, and the small ground squirrel lives everywhere. The red hills and mountain walls were full of debris from the red brick, [very] like the debris of our brickyards. The red-fired clay also resounds like our bricks. Black lignite layers can usually be seen underneath the red tops; it appears that these burned and gave the clay its red color. Many lateral ravines were surrounded by a row of [these] cone-shaped, pointed brick ovens; the space or ravine in between appeared to be a large, collapsed crater. Holes and caverns occur frequently in this clay and sandstone. Swallows’ nests, now abandoned, stick companion-like close to each other in many places on these steep walls. The hill chains soon retreated; a wide, flat area followed on both banks; to the left forest, then prairie; to the right a sandbank with [drift]wood, behind it the forest. The river is very wide here and carries more water than [it does] farther up. Some sunshine in the afternoon warmed us [but] only a little. The wind was somewhat stronger. On the right bank at one o’clock, low gray bluffs of clay with some stripes of lignite. Magpies (Corvus pica) were on all the banks. In front of the hills were areas mostly overgrown with trees, bushes, dry high grass, and other plants. The river [was] very wide. The ash was the only tree still carrying its (yellowish brown) seeds in any number.

A Totanus with a white uropygium flew away from a sandbar. Frequently the high-stemmed plant with the long calyx or red seed capsules ([——]) was growing on the bank. There were wide flats on both banks again; to the right, a prairie. In front of that, on the bank, there was much driftwood.

We lay to here on the right, and the [crew] cooked. A wide prairie stretched up to the hills. It was entirely flat and overgrown with short yellow grass, and every step [stirred up] much dust from dryness. It was overgrown in places with the broad-leaved Solidago and some other plants. Mostly, however, large stretches alternated [between] Symphoria [and bushy] cottonwood, ash, and elm. Surrounding them were two- to four-foot-high rose bushes.

We roamed through all these bushes and prairie a mile farther [but] did not see any living beings except Corvus corax, Pica americana, and a prairie hen (Tetrao phasianellus). At three o’clock, not far below this place, we reached the mouth of a small river the White River, actually White Earth River (Goat Pen River of Lewis and Clark), discharging slantingly downward on the left side. We frequently saw Tetrao phasianellus, among others, a covey of certainly forty, probably two coveys combined. These birds appear to like sitting immediately on the riverbank on the dry beach driftwood and in the forest on the edge of the bank. Retreating from the river [somewhat], the remarkable mountains, whitish gray with darker horizontal bands [and] light brick-red tops and spots, which [changed color in] the weak sunlight—now completely light red, [now] pinkish red. The river [turned] wide with large sandbars. Farther on we reached a forest on the left, then willow [thickets] above the steep bank, where there was a beaver lodge.

On the bank, between the [piled-up] driftwood, the small striped ground squirrels ran very fast with their tails upright. On the right bank [there were] very unusual hills; in the foreground many isolated, raised cones, some like old castles, [some] jagged, others craterlike. We sailed until about dusk, when we put ashore on the right bank. A kingfisher continually flew beside us, [and] a magpie sat on the helm, where it remained a long time.

In the old dry wood lying on the bank, a wren flew and crawled around, without doubt Troglodytes hyemalis. We lit a fire between high cottonwood trunks, two feet in diameter; [they] almost formed a circle, and [we] rested our backs against the trunks. After we had eaten our dinner of meat, we stood watch for the first time [that day]. I had the first watch until ten o’clock. A strong fire was maintained until [that time], then a lesser one. Night windy but not cold. The sky dark, overcast.