Day-by-Day / January 20, 1805

January 20, 1805

Mandan gratitude ritual

Fort Mandan, ND Gass visits a Mandan village and sees them offer food to a sacred buffalo skull. Clark explains yesterday’s misunderstanding between the two interpreters and their wives.

Interpreters Misunderstand[1]Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © … Continue reading

A Jealous Wife

a miss understanding took place between the two inturpeters on account of their Squars, one of the Squars of Shabownes [Charbonneau’s] Squars being Sick, I ordered my Servent [York] to, give her Some froot Stewed and tee at dift Tims which was the Cause of the misundstd
William Clark

Mandan Gratitude Ritual

when they had done eating they gave a bowl of victuls to a buflows head which they worshiped, & Sd. Eat this So that the live ones may come in that we may git a Supply of meat. Some of them & indeed the most of them have Strange & uncommon Ideas, but verry Ignorant of our forms & customs, but quick & Sensible in their own way & in their own conceit &c &c.
Joseph Whitehouse

John Shields, Gunsmith

My Landlord went down to the Americans to get his Gun Mended. They have a very Expert smith, who is always Employed in making dift. things & working for the Indians, who are grown very font of them although they disliked them at first.
François-Antoine Larocque[3]20 January 1805, W. Raymond Wood and Thomas D. Thiessen, Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738–1818 (Norman: University of Oklahoma … Continue reading

Celestial Observations

Observed Equal altitudes of the sun symbol, with Sextant & glass horizon.
Meriwether Lewis

 

Weather Diary

Ther. at sun symbol rise Weather Wind at sun symbol rise Thert. at 4 P.M. Weather Wind at 4 P.M. River
28 fair N E 9 [below 0] cloudy S E raise ¾ in.

—Meriwether Lewis[4]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.

Notes

Notes
1 Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © 2003 by Yellowstone Public Radio.
2 New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed 31 October 2019. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-c445-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
3 20 January 1805, W. Raymond Wood and Thomas D. Thiessen, Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738–1818 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985), 149–50.
4 To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.