September 14, 1833

September 14th broke with a bright, beautiful morning. Our boat was cleaned and loaded about eleven o’clock. It was too small, and we immediately saw that, with the cargo, we could barely sit, much less find space to sleep. At 7:30 the thermometer registered 66°F [18.9°C]. The larger of my two bears had been shrieking fiercely all night in his new crate. This crate with the two bears was placed in the middle of the cargo, where it extended from one side of the boat to the other; it was too large and awkward, and in this position could not be cleaned well. A cannon was brought before the fort to salute us. After we had all arranged our baggage and brought it on board and had received the letters, we took leave at twelve o’clock of our gracious host, Mr. Mitchell, and his sole companion, Mr. Culbertson, as well as of the other residents of the fort. All of them accompanied us all the way to the river.

We cast off at 12:30, a cannon was fired, [and] we called farewell once more to those staying behind in this lonely wilderness. We glided swiftly down the Missouri. The river above Horse Island was only 60 paces wide. After half an hour, we reached the place where we had last spent the night on our voyage upriver with the keelboat. Here our helmsman, Morrin, selected the channel to the left. At 2:30 we reached the old fort; the island beside it remained to our right. Soon afterward we navigated past the mouth of the Marias River. To the right, on the hills, we saw a bunch of eight antelope, magpies, and sparrow hawks (Falco sparverius) along the shore. Near Spaniards Island we saw antelope to the left again. In a creek that emptied to the right, a deer ran away, but Morrin’s attempt to shoot it was futile. Between four and five o’clock, thunder was heard; the sky became overcast. Half an hour later, we saw a deer again to the right in the dry channel of an island; somewhat farther to the right, three bighorn on steep hills. A pair of eagles—here we are always referring to Aquila leucocephala—majestically flew away from the old cottonwoods. Gentle hills, which now appeared again, had five antelope. We had [a] beautiful view of the Bears Paw Mountain, which, with its blue domes, rose picturesquely above the prairie hills. We saw many magpies and individual crows in the hills along the river. Our bears roared wildly toward evening, an unwelcome situation when one has to be on guard against hostile Indians and [often] may not even light a fire during the evening. Before dusk we put in at the right bank below a prairie and cooked meat. An hour later, we continued the journey well into the night, when we fastened our boat under a steep wall and slept in it in a very awkward position; we were cold besides and were soaked by heavy rain all night long. Our beds got wet, and we could use them only in part.

Current Location

Journal Location: Fort McKenzie, Montana