Lewis and his group continue down the Missouri. Pvts. Colter and Collins fail to return from a hunting trip and the Field brothers kill a nine-foot grizzly bear. At their camp near present Oswego, Montana, a storm fills the dugouts with water and blows dust everywhere.
Clark and his group hunker down against swarms of mosquitoes as they wait for Lewis below the mouth of the Yellowstone. Clark and another hunter kill a large female grizzly.
Having failed in their mission to take the horses to the Knife River Villages, Sgt. Pryor and his three men are forced paddle down the Yellowstone in two bull boats.[1]For more on the captains’ strategy and various groups after leaving Travelers’ Rest, see Dividing Forces at Travelers’ Rest.
Missing Hunters (Lewis)
Nine-foot Grizzly
Grizzly Bear and Cubs
Yellowstone National Park, May 2015. Photo by Jim Peaco, courtesy U.S. National Park Service.
The Feildses killed 2 large bear this evening one of them measured nine feet from the extremity of the nose to that of his tail, this is the largest bear except one that I have seen.
—Meriwether Lewis
Two Missing Hunters
Colter and Collins not having arrived induced me to remain this morning for them . . . . I remained untill noon when I again reimbarked and set out concluding that as Colter and Collins had not arrived by that time that they had passed us after dark the night of the 3rd inst. as Sergt Ordway informed me he should have done last evening had not the centinel hailed him.
—Meriwether Lewis
Evening Storm
procd. on untill evening and Camped on a high Sand beach a little after dark came up a hard Thunder Shower of wind and rain and nearly filled our canoes, So that we had to unload them. the Sand flew So that we could Scarsely See & cut our faces by the force of the wind.—
—Meriwether Lewis
Troublesome Mosquitoes (Clark)
A Sleepless Night
The Musquetors was So troublesom to the men last night that they Slept but very little. indeed they were excessive troublesom to me. my Musquetor Bear [mosquito netting] has a number of Small holes worn through they pass in.
—William Clark
Mosquitoes Obscure Sight
I assended the hill with a view to kill the ram. the Misquetors was So noumerous that I could not keep them off my gun long enough to take Sight and by thair means missed.
—William Clark
Grizzly Bear Hunting
I with one man went on the Sand bear and killed the Bear which proved to be a feemale very large and fat. much the fattest animale we have killed on the rout as this bear has got into the river before we killed her I had her toed across to the South Side under a high Bluff where formed a Camp, had the bear Skined and fleaced.
—William Clark
Skin Canoes (Pryor)
On the second day after the sergeant and his party had started for the Mandan villages, the Indians stole the whole of the horses, and the party were obliged to descend the river in skin canoes.
—Patrick Gass (recorded 12 August 1806)[2]Precise dates and locations for Pryor’s trip down the Yellowstone are not known. Pryor was instructed to keep a journal, but it if he did, it is lost.
Weather Diaries
State of the weather at rise
Wind at State of the weather at 4 P. M. Wind at 4 P. M. cloudy after fair N W fair S. E. —Meriwether Lewis
State of the weather at Sun rise State of wind at Sunrise State of the weather at 4 P. M. Wind at 4 P. M. State of river fair N. E. fair N. E. fall 7 in. Musquetors excessively troublesom both rivers falling.
—William Clark[3]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is omitted, some abbreviations have been spelled out, and the three river columns have been merged.
Notes
| ↑1 | For more on the captains’ strategy and various groups after leaving Travelers’ Rest, see Dividing Forces at Travelers’ Rest. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Precise dates and locations for Pryor’s trip down the Yellowstone are not known. Pryor was instructed to keep a journal, but it if he did, it is lost. |
| ↑3 | To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is omitted, some abbreviations have been spelled out, and the three river columns have been merged. |
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).