October 1, 1804
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Aug 30, 1803 Sep 30, 1806

October 1, 1804

 

1st of October Monday 1804    The wind blew hard from the S. E. all last night, Set out early    passed a large Island in the middle of the river    opposit this Island the Ricaras lived in 2 Villages on the S W. Side, [1] about 2 Miles above the upper point of the Island the Chyenne River Coms in on the L. S. and is about 400 yards wide dischargeing but little water for a R. of its Size, the Current jentle, and navagable, to the Black mountains [Black Hills]    we haule the Boat over a Sand bar, River wide & Shoal, pass'd a Creek at 5 mils we Call Sentinal Creek, a Small one above, but little timber about this river, the hills not So high as usial, the upper Creek I call lookout Creek, [2] Camped on a Sand bar, opposit a Tradeing house, [3] where a Mr. V [V written over Leb]alles & 2 men had Some flew goods to trade with the Sioux, a boy came to us, This Mr. Vallie informed us he wintered last winter 300 Legus up the Chyemne River under the Black mountains, he Sais the River is rapid and bad to navagate, it forks 100 Leagus up    the N. fork enters the Black mountain 40 Leagues above the forks [4]    the Countrey like that on the Missouri less timber more Cedar, the Coat Nur or Black m. is high and Some parts retain Snow all Summer, Covered with timber principally pine, Great number of goats and a kind of anamal with verry large horns about the Size of a Small Elk, [5] White Bear    no bever on the chien [Cheyenne]    great numbers in the mountains, The Chyenne Nation has about 300 Lodges    hunt the Buffalow, Steel horses from the Spanish Settlements, which they doe in 1 month— [6]    the Chanal of this River is Corse gravel, Those mountains is inhabited also by the white booted Turkeys

worthy of remark that the Grouse or Prarie hen is Booted, the Toes of their feet So constructed as to walk on the Snow, and the Tail Short with 2 long Stiff feathers in the middle. [7]

Course & Distance
N. 80° W. 3 m. to the upper point of Pania Island.
N. 70° W. 2 m. to the Mouth of Chyenne River L. S.
N. 16° W. 2 ½ miles to a point on the S. S.
N. 50° E. 4 m. to willows on the L. S.    passed 2 Creek.
S. 53° E. 4 ½ m to a pt. on the S. S.    psd. a Bluff L. S.
 
Course Distance & reffurence
N. 80° W 3 mes. to the upper pt. of a large Island in the River
N 70° W. 2 mes. to the mouth of Chien or Dog River on the L. S. (1)
N. 16° W 2 ½ miles to a pt. on the S. S.    passed verry bad Sand bar
N. 50° E. 4 mile to Some willows on the L. S.    passed 2 Creek on the
L. S. the upper Small—    (2)
S. 53° E 4 ½ mes. to a pt. on the 〈L.〉 S. S. passing a Bluff on the L S.
  16  

Sand bars are So noumerous, that it is impossible to discribe them, & think it unnecessary to mention them. [8]

1st of October Monday 1804

The wind blew hard all last night from the S. E. verry Cold    Set out early    the wind Still hard    passed a large Island in the middle of the river (1)    opsd. the lower point of this Island the Ricrerees formerly lived in a large Town on the L. S. [NB: remains only a mound circular walls 3 or 4 feet high]    above the head of the Island about 2 miles we passed the (2) River 〈Chien (or Dog River)[9] [NB: Chayenne ] L. S.    this river Comes in from the S W. and is about 400 yards wide, the Current appears gentle, throwing out but little Sands, and appears to throw out but little water the heads of this River is 〈not known    a part of the nation of Dog〉 [NB: in the Second range of the Côte noir    its course generally about East. So called from the Chayenne ] Indians [NB: who] live 〈Some distance〉 [NB: on the heads of it] 〈up this river, the presise distance I cant learn〉, [10] above the mouth of this river the Sand bars are thick and the water Shoal    the river [Missouri] Still verry wide and falling a little    we are obliged to haul the boat over a Sand bar, after makeing Several attempts to pass.    the wind So hard we Came too & Stayed 3 hours    after it Slackened a little we proceeded on round a bend, the wind in the after part of the Day a head—    (2) passed a Creek on the L. S. which we Call the Sentinal, this part of the river has but little timber, the hills not so high.    the Sand bars now noumerous, & river more than one mile wide including the Sand bars.    (2) pass a Small Creek above the latter which we Call lookout C—.    Continued on with the wind imediately a head, and Came too on a large Sand bar in the middle of the river, we Saw a man opposit to our Camp on the L. S. which we discovd. to be a Frenchman, a little 〈of〉 [NB: from Shore among] the willows we observed a house, we Call to them to come over, a boy Came in a Canoo & informed that 〈three〉 2 french men were at the house with good to trade with the Seauex which he expected down from the rickerries everry day, Severl large parties of Seauex Set out from the rics for this place to trade with those men—    This Mr. Jon Vallie informs us that he wintered last winter 300 Leagues up the Chien River under the Black mountains, he informs that this river is verry rapid and dificiult even for 〈Perogues〉 Canoos to assend and when riseing the Swels is verry high, one hundred Leagues up it forks    one fork Comes from the S. the other at 40 Leagues above the forks enters the black Mountain. The Countrey from the Missourie to the black mountain is much like the Countrey on the Missourie, less timber & a greatr perpotion of Ceder. The black Mountains he Says is verry high, and Some parts of it has Snow on it in the Summer    great quantities of Pine Grow on the mountains, a great noise is heard frequently on those mountains"— [11] 〈no bever on Dog river〉, on the mountains great numbers of 〈an〉 goat, and a kind of Anamale with large Circuler horns, This animale is nearly the Size of an Argalia Small Elk. White bear is also plenty—    The 〈Chien〉 [NB: Chayenne ] Inds. 〈are about 300 lodges they〉 inhabit this river principally, and Steel horses from the Spanish Settlements 〈to the S W〉    This excurtion they make in one month    the bottoms & Sides of R Chien is Corse gravel. This frenchman gives an account of a white booted turkey an inhabitant of the Cout Noie—    [NB: (〈Turke〉 (Prairie Cock)]

 

We proceeded now from the mouth of this river 11 miles and Camped on a Sand bar in the river opposit to a Tradeing house    verry windy & Cold—    11 miles above the Chien R

 

The red Berry is Called by the Rees Nar-nis—(Choriser Grape) [14]

The Ricares
Names of the nations who come to the Ricares to trafick and bring Horses & robes
  1. * Kun-na-nar-wesh Gens de vash Blue beeds
  2. ° Noo-tar-wau Hill Climbers
  3. * Au ner-hoo the people who pen
Buffalow to Catch them
  4. * To-che-wah-Coo Fox Indians
  5. * To-pah-cass White hair's
  6. * Cat-tar kah Paducar
  7. * Kie-wah Tideing Indians
  8. * Too war Sar Skin pricks
  9. Shar ha (Chien) the village on the other Side
10. We hee Shaw (Chien) The villages on this Side

Those nation all live on the praries from S W. by S. to West of the Ricaries, all Speek different languages and are numerous    all follow the Buffalow and winter in the mountains.

The Mandans Call a red berry common to the upper part of the Missouri Ăs-sáy the engages call the Same berry grease de Buff—    grows in great abundance a makes a Delightfull Tart [15]

 

Monday 1st October 1804.    we Set of as usal under a hard Breeze from E.    Sailed on verry well past an Island.    passed an old village of the Rick Rees nation on S. S. [16]    passed the Mouth of a large River on the South Side called ashea or dog River, which is about [blank] yards wide    a Great nomber of Sand bars at & near the Mouth (we had Some difficulty to pass)    Some Scattering Timber on the Bottoms about the mouth of this River.    passd. a bottom on N. S. Some thin timber near the River on Sd. Bottoms. Barren hills back from the River on boath Sides, & little or no Timber back from the River except on creeks & Streams, this Side of the River Platte    The wind blew So hard that it was difficult to find the channel.    we halted about 9 oClock took breakfast.    dilayed about 2 hours then dragged our Boat over a verry Shallow channel.    hoisted Sail proceeded on to a bend in the river at 2 oC. where the wind came a head.    took dinner.    then proceeded on    passed a Bottom covered with Small Timber on 〈S.〉 N. S.    a cool day.    came 14 miles & Camped on a large Sand beach N. S.    we Saw a man on the South Shore    he called to us in french. Some of our frenchman answered him & knew him, 〈he〉 found he wished to See us.    we desired him to come    he came in a pearogue over to us.    it was a young french man who lived with Mr. [Roi?] Valley [17] a trader from little Coat.

 

Monday 1st Oct 1804. We early continued our voyage, the morning was cloudy but the wind fair and we sailed rapidly. At 9 we passed the river De Chien, or Dog river a large river that comes in on the south side. A short distance above this river, the sand bars are so numerous, that we had great difficulty to get along; and encamped on one in the middle of the river. There were some French traders on the other bank of the river, and one [18] of them came over and remained with us all night.

 

Monday 1st October 1804.    Set off eairly.    a cloudy morning    fare wind.    we Sailed on rapidly.    at 9 oClock we passed dog River which comes in on S. S.    we Camped on a Sand bar in the middle of the river, a french trador came to us from the S. Shore.

Monday October 1st    This morning we started Early, the weather being cloudy, and a fair Wind, we hoisted all sail and made great headway, At 9 o'Clock A. M. we passed Chien or Dog River, which emties itself into the Mesouri, on the South side of that River; We encamped on a Sand barr; in the middle of the River; at which place, a french Trader came to us from the South shore, and staid with us all night he being one of a party, who was with Louselle & had left him; he left us early in the next morning with his Canoe

1. The island is apparently Clark's "Pania Island," later Cheyenne Island. The villages are marked on Atlas map 23 and are probably among the sites on or near what is called Black Widow Ridge, where there was almost a continuous series of late prehistoric and early historic Indian village sites. Lehmer, fig. 82. (back)
2. Sentinal Creek, which bears that name on Evans's map 3 (Atlas map 9), is probably present McKenzie (Chicken) Creek, and Lookout Creek probably No Heart Creek, in Dewey County, South Dakota. Others have identified them, however, as Fox (Charlie) and McKenzie creeks, respectively. The hairpin bend they were going around ("horse shoe Bend" in Atlas map 9), divided between Atlas maps 23 and 24, was later called Lookout Bend. Mattison (OR), 59; MRC map 42; MRY map 83. (back)
3. In present Dewey County, a few miles above the mouth of the Cheyenne River; the area must now be inundated by the Oahe Reservoir. The trader was Jean Vallé, probably a member of a prominent family of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. He may be the "Vale" who was a clerk for Régis Loisel. Gass and Ordway note that he spoke English. Abel (TN), 78–80 and n. 21, 108, 133–34, 150; Thwaites (LC), 1:176 n. 1; Nasatir (BLC), 1:111; MRC map 42. (back)
4. The "Black Mountains," also "Cote noir" in Codex B for this date, are here the actual Black Hills of South Dakota. What little information whites had about this range came largely from Indian reports, and no one had any clear idea of its extent and location. At this point the captains applied the name to all the eastern outlying ranges of the Rockies. Vallé's north fork of the Cheyenne is the present Belle Fourche River, which meets the Cheyenne in eastern Meade County, South Dakota. Taking a league to be three miles, Vallé's distance estimates are far too great. Allen, 190, 202, 239. (back)
5. Bighorn sheep. (back)
6. These Spanish settlements were probably in New Mexico, the traditional source of horses for the Plains tribes. (back)
7. Perhaps the sharp-tailed grouse. Information of Paul Johnsgard, October 31, 1984. Cf. Cutright (LCPN), 95, and Holmgren, 29. For the turkey, see Lewis's natural history note, September 17, 1804. (back)
8. Before these lines Clark crossed out the first two courses of the next day: S. 70 E 2 and S 80 E. 1. (back)
9. At the time of writing this entry Clark evidently believed that the name "Cheyenne," for both the tribe and the river, derived from the French "chien," for dog. It is, in fact, from the Sioux Šhahiyena, perhaps "red (alien) talkers." Having learned better later, he or Biddle evidently went back and crossed out some of the references to "dog," "chien," and "nation of dogs." Hodge, 1:250. (back)
10. Biddle has interlined and crossed out extensively here. Clark originally wrote, "the heads of this River is not known a part of the nation of Dog Indians live some distance up this river, the presise distance I cant learn." Biddle's version becomes, "the heads of this River is in the Second range of the Côte noir    its course generally about East. So called from the Chayenne Indians who live on the heads of it." Biddle used information the captains acquired after Clark wrote this passage, in particular correcting the notion that the Cheyennes were "Chien," or dog, Indians. This is an indication that Clark wrote this Codex B entry on or soon after the given date. Compare with Biddle's published version in Coues (HLC), 1:146–47. (back)
11. See below, June 20 and July 11, 1805. (back)
12. Clark begins his notebook journal Codex C on October 1, 1804; Codices B and C have overlapping entries for October 1, 2, and 3. In this edition the Codex B entries are placed first, which seems the most likely order of composition. See the Introduction and Appendix C. Above this entry Clark wrote "From journal No. 2" (which was Clark's designation for Codex B); the notation must refer to the overlap. Codex C was Clark's Journal No. 3. (back)
13. Undated, miscellaneous information on the first two pages of Codex C, probably gathered among the Arikaras and Mandans and placed on the most convenient blank pages. All of the names seem to be in the Arikara language and designate either tribes or bands who came to the Arikaras to trade. Many of them can not be precisely identified today and conjecture beyond Clark's identifications seems pointless. This list at the very least indicates the extent of intertribal trade and the importance of the Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa villages as trading centers; these three tribes served as the middlemen of the northern Great Plains.

Kun-na-nar-wesh (tUhkaNIhnaawíš ), "gray-stone village," the Arikara name for the Arapahoes; the term "gray stone" may have referred metaphorically to blue beads.

To-che-wah-coo (tUhčiwáku'), "fox village." This name probably indicated a band of some larger tribal group.

To-pah-cass (tUhpAxkás), "white head(ed) village." This is not a modern Arikara name for any group; it is possibly an old name for the Great Osages under their famous chief White Hair.

Cat-tar kah (katAhká). In modern Arikara the term refers to "white man"; however, the same term in the closely related Pawnee language means "alien tribe" and was used to designate the Kiowa Apaches.

Kie-wah (ka'íWA), "Kiowa."

Too war Sar (tuwaásA). In modern Arikara the term designates a medicine society also named neksaánu', "ghost." Inside the medicine bundle of the society is an image called ka'íWA, suggesting that it may have originated from that tribe. Clark's designation "Skin pricks," however, would seem to suggest the Wichitas.

Shar ha ( šaahé), "Cheyennes."

We hee Shaw. This term is unclear although it may be related to waahawiša, "lying on its side." It is not a modern Arikara designation for any social group. Clark indicates that the term designated a division of the Cheyennes. "The other side" and "This side" may refer to the two sides of the Missouri River, indicating that the Cheyennes were still living, or had recently lived on both sides of the river. Later in the century they would be found entirely west of the river, ranging the plains from Montana to Oklahoma. Hodge, 1:71–74, 474, 698–701; 2:184, 705–7, 1158, 1037, 1172; Coues (NLEH), 1:384 and n. 6; 2:577–78; Hyde (IHP), 28–30, 130.

(back)
14. It is naaní'Is or "buffalo berry" in the Arikara language—the buffaloberry. (back)
15. Again the buffaloberry, in the Mandan language it is háŋse or "bullberry." (back)
16. This area below the mouth of the Cheyenne River, Stanley County, South Dakota, is the site of a series of late prehistoric and early historic Indian villages. (back)
17. Jean Vallé, a trader from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. (Ordway may have thought Vallé was from St. Charles, Petite Côte.) By "little Coat" Ordway means Côte Noir, or Black Hills, where Vallé had been trading. (back)
18. Apparently the unnamed "boy" who came over in a canoe from Jean Vallé's trading post. (back)