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Deer as Plenty as Hogs About a Farm

By: Phil Scriver, LC200 Historian

The Expedition continued their journey upriver, struggling against the six miles per hour current. They averaged ten miles each day as they overcame the treacherous river. Snags were everywhere, threatening to tear apart any boat that encountered them. The river itself was constantly changing as huge chunks of the riverbank gave way and fell into the water. Sandbars were another continual problem as they lay just under the surface. If a boat ran aground on one of these, it could take as much as half a day to get free.

It was a late start on June 29th. The Captains spent the morning holding a courts martial for privates John Collins and Hugh Hall. Collins received 100 lashes for getting drunk on guard duty, while Hall only got 50 lashes for the same offense. Collins was the instigator and denied the charges against him. Once the punishment had been rendered, the Expedition set out. They had just got under way when the stern of the keelboat hit a hidden sandbar and swung wildly around in the current, barely missing a large snag. Clark said that if they would have struck the snag the boat surely would have broken apart and immediately sunk with it cargo which was most of the Expedition’s provisions.

As the Expedition worked its way upriver, Clark noted locations that had been used for trading forts by the French traders and others that had been Indian villages. Fort Cavagnial; cabins used by a party of French traders, including Expedition member Cruzatte, two years earlier; and Francois Benoit’s fort were noted along with two prehistoric Kansas Indians towns and what is now known as the Leary Site that had been a prehistoric Oneota village.

From these journal entries a reader can see that Clark had considerable knowledge about the history of the lower Missouri River and its inhabitants, both Indian and early traders. He had also gathered information telling him where the current villages were for many of the tribes. These tribes were not as nomadic as the tribes living on the upper Missouri.

July 4, 1804 was ushered in with a shot from the swivel gun. As the day continued Clark named one creek they passed “4th of July Creek” then a second creek “Independence Creek” both in honor of the holiday at hand. These were in the area of current day Doniphan, Kansas. Lewis noticed a large mound with three trails leading to it. When he climbed to the top he was greeted with a very commanding view of the countryside in all directions for a great distance. He admired the beauty of the prairies covered in lush green grass interspersed with trees near springs and small creeks then the scattered shrubs with the flowers and fruit. The day was concluded with another shot from the swivel gun and an extra gill of whiskey. This was the Expedition’s first 4th of July west of the Mississippi River.

By now the Expedition had settled into a routine of travel. Several hunters were sent out to secure the fresh meat for the day. On the lower part of the river it was mainly deer. Clark noted near the Little Platte River the deer were everywhere and “as plenty as hogs about a farm.” A few days later the abundance of deer were giving way to elk and signs of buffalo were starting to appear.

Clark made one of the infrequent journal entries about Seaman, noting how he helped the hunters on one occasion. Seaman drove several beaver out of their lodge near a beaver dam where the hunters were successful in killing them. One morning Clark was walking on shore when he found recent elk tracks. He quickly took up the chase figuring this to be a good opportunity to get the day’s meat supply. He tracked the elk over several hills and into a strip of wooded bottomland. When he passed through these woods, to his surprise he was faced with a prairie so extensive he could not see the end of it in any direction. Clark became so excited to explore this new area that he forgot all about the elk. Luckily other hunters had better success that day. Camp that night was on an island Clark named “Butter Island” because that day the Expedition used the last of their butter.

Many of the daily entries include information about the weather. Most are short remarks referring to the wind, rain or temperature; “extremely hot”, “cool morning”, “strong wind all day” are typical entries. However Clark laments on July 13th that his notes for that day had been blown overboard during a violent storm the morning of the 14th. To write his journal entry for the 13th he had to refer to the enlisted men’s journals and trust his own memory. He further describes that day’s weather. The morning storm was strong wind and rain that lasted only a short while. When it subsided the Expedition set out. They had only gone one mile when a very strong wind caught them, nearly capsizing the keelboat. They managed to get the boat turned and back under control when the wind suddenly stopped and “in one minute the river was smooth as glass.” One other journal entry talks about how much the men sweat in the hot temperatures and high humidity. Even if they are not working their shirts are soaked in only a few minutes.

The Captains knew they had to be ever vigilant for Indians. The river tribes were reported to be at war with one another so encountering a war party was always possible with the results unpredictable. Guards were posted every time the Expedition stopped and most camps were on islands in the river for added protection. On July 9th the Expedition stopped at dark near present day Iowa Point. They saw a campfire across the river and, figuring it to be their hunters, sent a boat over to get them. As the boat approached the far shore the fire went out and all was quiet. The men in the boat made a hasty retreat, thinking they had nearly walked into an Indian war party. Clark fired a shot from the swivel gun hoping to scare the Indians off and to warn any hunters who may be close by. The Expedition’s camp was on high alert all night. The next morning when a party checked out the fire in the daylight they found two of the Expedition’s hunters. The hunters had seen the boat crossing the river so they put their fire out in preparation to leave. The men in the boat could not hear the hunters’ shouts because of the wind that was blowing.

Three days later Willard was courts martialed for sleeping on guard duty. By the Articles of War this was punishable by death. Although a very serious situation, the Captains probably did not entertain punishment of that severity. However Willard did receive 100 lashes—given 25 per day over four days. Maybe in part because of the recent Indian war party scare, this was the most severe punishment given by the Captains up to that time.

By July 22nd the Expedition had passed by the Platte River and found a good location where they could stop for a few days of much needed rest and repairs. The river had taken its toll on the men and the boats. The Captains also wanted time to prepare dispatches to be sent back downriver with a small party that would return to St. Louis (there is no record of why the party never departed from here, waiting instead until the next spring after spending the winter at Fort Mandan). Clark apparently completed a series of twelve maps of the river from Camp Dubois to the Platte, a distance he recorded as 642 miles. These maps have never been found. Lewis made charts of the celestial readings they had been taking and he listed the instruments they had and how they were being used. Included were an octant, sextant, three artificial horizons, chronometer and a circumferentor.

The Captains wanted very much to make contact with the chiefs and principal men of the Otos to council with them. In council they would explain to the Indians who the new owner of the territory was and that they should make peace with their neighboring tribes and trade with the Americans. Messengers were sent to the villages to give them this message, but the Indians were all out on the prairies hunting buffalo so they could not be found.

The Expedition stayed at this camp a short distance from Omaha, Nebraska until July 27th writing, repairing, resting and waiting for the Otos. This camp was named Camp White Catfish because of a new kind of catfish Goodrich caught there. Lewis described it as being white and having a tail like a dolphin. They are now known as channel catfish and were a species new to science.