On a cold, rainy morning, the expedition waits for the wind to subside before heading up the Missouri. They discover that mice are eating their corn, paper, and cloth, and Lewis adds pasture sagewort and long-leaved sagewort to his plant collection. They reach present Sutton Bay in South Dakota.
Deer Mouse
Peromyscus maniculatus
Photo created by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Mice Problems
examoned our Stores & goods, Several bags Cut by the mice and Corn Scattered, Some of our Cloth also cut by them also papers &c. &c
—William Clark
Searching for a Channel
we attempted Several Chanels and Could not find water to assend, landed on a Sand bar & Concluded to Stay all night, & Send out and hunt a Chanell,
—William Clark
Long-leaved Sagewort
Artemisia longifolia
© Matt Lavin. Downloaded from Wikimedia and used with permission of the Creative Commons 2.0 License.
Pasture Sagewort Specimen
Radix perennial 3 to 8 stalks as high as the specimen growth of the high sides of the Bluff
—Meriwether Lewis[1]Artemisia frigida, Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 19c.
Long-leaved Sagewort Specimen
No 53 October 3rd
flavor like the chamomile radix perennial growth of the high bluffs
—Meriwether Lewis[2]Artemisia longifolia, Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 20.
Weather Diary
Thermot. at rise
Weather Wind at thermotr. at 4 P.M. Weather Wind at 4 oC P.M. 40 cloudy N W 45 cloudy after rain & fair N W the earth and sand which form the bars of the river are so fully impregnated with salt that it shoots and adhers to the little sticks which appear on the serface it is pleasent & seems niterous.—
—Meriwether Lewis[3]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “day of the month” column and spelled out some abbreviations.
Notes
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.
This site is provided as a public service by the
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
- The Capital Gallery (Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation)
- 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).