August 10, 1806
Meriwether Lewis
The morning was somewhat cloudy I therefore apprehended rain however it shortly after
became fair. I hastened the repairs which were necessary to the perogue and canoe
which were compleated by 2 P.M. those not engaged about this business employed themselves
as yesterday. at 4 in the evening it clouded up and began to rain which puting a
stop to the opperation of skindressing we had nothing further to detain us, I therefore
directed the vessels to be loaded and at 5 P.M. got under way the wind has blown
very hard all day but did not prove so much so this evening as absolutely to detain us.
we decended this evening as low nearly as the entrance of white Earth river and
encamped on the S.W. side. [Lewis's camp was nearly opposite present Williston and
above Little Muddy River. The site is likely beneath Garrison Reservoir (Lake Sakakawea).
This site would be just above the campsite of April 21, 1805.] the
musquetoes more than usually troublesome this evening.
August 10, 1806
John Ordway
a cool windy morning we went at reppairing the white perogue and
continued dressing our deer Skins and Smoaking them. about three P.M. we put
the canoes in the river, and loaded up and about 4 we Set out and procd. on down untill
dark and Camped on St. Side [Nearly opposite Williston, ND.] and the
musquetoes verry troublesome indeed. we could not all this night git a moment
quiet rest for them.--
August 10, 1806
Patrick Gass
We had a fine morning and were employed in repairing the periogue and dressing skins,
until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when we got the periogue compleated, loaded our craft,
and at four o'clock proceeded on to the mouth of White-earth river, and encamped [The
expedition's White Earth River is not the present stream of that name, it is Little Muddy
River.] opposite it on the same bottom, where we encamped on the 21st April 1805.
In the afternoon some drops of rain fell; and the musquitoes here were very bad
indeed.
August 10, 1806
William Clark
had the flesh of the elk hung on poles to dry, and Sent out the the hunters. wind
blew hard from the East all day. in the after part of the day it was [NB: Cloudy]
& a fiew drops of rain. I finished a Copy of my Sketches of the River
Rochejhone. Shields killed a black tail deer & an antilope. the other
hunters killed nothing. deer are very Scerce on this part of the river. I found a
Species of Cherry [Much of what is described below appears transcribed from
Lewis's entry of August 12, 1806.] in the bottom the Srub or bush which are
differant from any which I have ever Seen and not very abundant even in this Small tract
of country to which it Seems to be confined. the Stem is compound erect and
subdivided or branching without any regular order. it rises to the hight of 8 to 10
feet Seldom putting out more than one Stem from the Same root not growing in cops as the
Choke Cherry does. the bark is Smooth and of a dark brown colour. the leaf is
petialate, oval accutely pointed at it's apex, from 1 and a 1/4 to one and a 1/2 inch in
length and from a half to 3/4 of an inch in wedth, finely or manutely Serrate, pale green
and free from bubessance. The fruit is a globular berry about the Size of a buck
Shot of a fine Scarlet red; like the cherries cultivated in the U. States each is
supported by a Separate Celindric flexable branch peduncle which issues from the
extremities of the boughs. the peduncle of this cherry Swells as it approaches the
fruit being largest at the point of insertion. the pulp of this fruit is of an
agreeable ascid flavour and is now ripe. the Style and Stigma are permanent. I have
never Seen it in blume. it is found on the high Stiff lands or hill Sides--.
the men dug great parcel of the root which the nativs call Hankee [Breadroot; See
August 6, 1806. Clark's term "white apple" is a translation of the French engages
word for the plant, pomme blanche, now a common name for it.] and the engagees
the white apple which they boiled and made use of with their meat. This is a large insipid
root and very tasteless. the nativs use this root after it is dry and pounded in
their Seup. [Soup]
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