September 24, 1833
Early in the morning, a flat region. Very few buffalo appeared, also a wolf. On the left bank, a beaver lodge and beaver paths; thick trunks, gnawed off halfway or completely, caught our attention. At seven o’clock, on the last wooded promontory intermingled with ash trees, we caught sight of a bull elk, which calmly stood with its escutcheon turned toward us. I shot it at an angle from behind with the combination over-and-under rifle/shotgun. Then we sprang ashore, and I shot and killed the elk. It had an impressive body, like a big “fourteener” in our country; its antlers were not so large and had an uneven twelve points. We took the antlers, a foreleg, and the canines as souvenirs. The color of the elk was superbly beautiful. Somewhat farther [on], we found a flight of prairie hens (Tetrao phasianellus) sitting on the bank and on old trees driftwood lying there; pheasants also appeared on the left bank. We saw a troop of antelope on the flat hills.
At eight o’clock we were at the mouth of the Big Dry River to the right. There were big sandbars and deposits of timber here, which kept us away from the mouth. Here the cottonwood forests were already half yellow. Morrin shot at the magpies with arrows. At 8:30 we halted below a dry creek on the right bank in a hollow in the prairie. Individual cottonwoods filled the hollows, where several big deer antlers lay. The entire prairie was overgrown with sage. While our meal was being cooked, a wolf sat opposite us near the river and howled.
Departure at 9:45. Magnificent warm weather. In the ravines of the hills, autumn was painting the bushes in bright colors. Several short species of Rhus and roses replaced the scarlet-red staghorn sumac (Rhus typhinum) here, though to a lesser degree. Cottonwoods, ashes, and other plants, orange-yellow; others, green; the Prunus padus, yellowish red; Cornus sericea, violet or purple. Half an hour farther on, we saw exceedingly impressive bull elks on a sandbar, and soon several others before the woods to the left. A magpie closely circled [over] the boat. Blackbirds in the prairie. Eagles and eagle’s nest. An Indian fort in the forest; [then] we turned toward a promontory. Around the bend the river became broad and full of large sandbars. At one o’clock we reached the spot to the left where the keelboat had been anchored when Morrin shot the antelope. Turkey buzzards frequently flew in the blue sky.
At 2:30 we reached Milk River, a nice river, now shallow, with willow and other thickets on the bank. We sailed along close to its mouth. Everywhere in the thickets, a dense strip of beautifully purple red willow bushes. Opposite the prairie below Milk River, we put in for a moment and cut green branches for our bears. Here the forest was very nice and colorful: the buffalo berry bushes full of their miniaceous berries, the roses covered with their fruits; in short, manifold colors. On the shore we found quite fresh tracks of wolves, elk, and bears; wild geese and sandpipers in abundance. We halted for a quarter of an hour, then [moved] on again. Immediately below the thicket where we stopped there were steeply cut-off clay bluffs of outstanding [form], table-shaped on top. In the thicket to the right, we had shot the old she-bear with her young during the keelboat voyage. Here we gave our tame bears buffalo berries, which they gladly devoured. Ducks in substantial numbers. Scores of magpies flew up from the willow thickets. The river, wide and full of sandbars. The wind, favorable. Sturnella and blackbirds flew up along the bank. Elk to the left in a willow thicket; the bull cried out. Everywhere one saw impressive elk bulls and cows on the shore before the long forest. Where [the forest] bordered on the prairie, we believed we saw a band of Indians on horseback, but it was a troop of elk with six cows and a large bull, which I shot at but missed.
The Missouri was now wide, very shallow, [and] full of sandbars; [it] made enormous bends. Near a sandbank eight Tetrao phasianellus (faisans [pheasants]) streaked away. Farther on in the willow thicket to the left, beaver tracks. Magpies came close to us. A large beaver den at the left bank. Since the Marayon [Marias], Morrin had counted twenty-five beaver dens, twenty-seven to Fort Union. We [then] reached a river bend, the right bank of which consisted of an ashgray, brownish chain of high, rounded-off hills. When we had sailed around this bend, we saw to the left, along a border of willows and the shore before the forest, a large troop of elk; we counted eighteen head. In the distance, a wide, flat region with forest and [the] low ridges of the prairie. Elk, whose light, pale yellow-reddish color shone beautifully in the light of the setting sun, walked through the river before us. Right and left, the bulls began to bugle. Somewhat farther above were five or six elk, and on the right bank, two white wolves. At seven o’clock it was close to dark, and there was a nearly full moon in the sky. We continued on until 8:30, with magnificent weather, and then halted on a sandbar in the river, which was separated by a narrow channel. The moon shone brightly; stags and ducks (Anas boschas) were calling and crying out.