Finally able to cross Lolo (Collins) Creek, the hunters once again find success. Today, they bring several deer to Long Camp. Sgt. John Ordway and two others travel across the Camas Prairie and descend to the Salmon River. In day 2 of his 12-part natural history treatise, Lewis describes Clark’s nutcracker—new to science—and the great gray owl.
Clark’s Nutcracker
Nucifraga columbiana
Photo by Dave Menke, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Clark’s Nutcracker
since my arrival here I have killed several birds of the corvus genus of a kind found only in the rocky mountains and their neighbourhood. I first met with this bird above the three forks of the Missouri and saw them on the hights of the rocky Mountains but never before had an opportunity of examining them closely.
—Meriwether Lewis
Great Gray Owl
Our hunters brought us a large hooting Owl which differs considerably from those of the Atlantic States which are also common here. the plumage of this owl is an uniform mixture of dark yellowish brown and white, in which the dark brown predominates. it’s colour may be properly termed a dark iron grey. the plumage is very long and remarkably silky and soft.
—Meriwether Lewis
Recovering Patients
The sick Cheif was much better this morning he can use his hands and arms and seems much pleased with the prospect of recovering . . . . The Child [Jean Baptiste Charbonneau] is also better, he is free of fever, the imposthume is not so large but seems to be advancing to maturity.—
—Meriwether Lewis
Lolo Creek Crossing
© 7 June 2009 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Fording Lolo Creek
in the evening Collins Shannon and Colter returned with eight deer. they had fortunately discovered a ford on Collins’s Creek where they were enabled to pass it with their horses and had hunted at the quawmash [camas] ground where we first met with the Chopunnish [Nez Perce] last fall.
—Meriwether Lewis
Deer Creek: “A bad hill”
© 2003 Airphoto, Jim Wark. All rights reserved. Waypoints recommended by Steve L. Russell.
It is believed that Ordway’s followed a route down the ridge at left of Deer Creek, and that the village was somewhere above the Salmon River (bottom of photo). Apparently the the salmon had not yet arrived in this part of the river.
Ordway’s Salmon Fishing Trip
towards evening we descended a bad hill down on a creek followed it down Some distance and arived at a village where we Camped.
—John Ordway
Weather Diary
State of the Weather at rise
Wind at State of the Weather at 4 P.M. Wind at 4 P.M. State of the Kooskooskee cloudy after rain, thunder, lightning S E cloudy after fair, rain, thunder, & lightning S E raised 11 in. had several heavy thunder showers in course of the last evening and night. the river from sunrise yesterday to sun rise this morning raised 1 ft. 10 Incs.— dift wood runing in considerable quantities and current incredibly swift tho’ smooth.—
—Meriwether Lewis[1]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented, the river columns have been merged, and some abbreviations have been spelled out.
Notes
| ↑1 | To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented, the river columns have been merged, and some abbreviations have been spelled out. |
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Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
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.
This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.
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Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
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- Yellowstone Public Radio
Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).