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Peek Inside...Entries For August 5:
1804:
Captain Clark (current)
1806:
Captain Clark:
August 5, 1804
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Set out early. Great appearance of wind and rain. I have observed that thunder and lightning is not as common in this country as it is in the Atlantic states. Snakes are not plenty; one was killed today, large, and resembling the rattlesnake, only something lighter. I walked on shore this evening, S.S. In pursuing some turkeys, I struck the river twelve miles below within 370 yards. The high water passes through this peninsula, and agreeable to the customary changes of the river, I should conclude that in two years the main current of the river will pass through. In every bend the banks are falling in from the current being thrown against those bends by the sand points which enlarge, and the soil, I believe, from unquestionable appearances of the entire bottom, from one hill to the other, being the mud or ooze of the river at some former period, mixed with sand and clay, easily melts and slips into the river, and the mud mixes with the water, and the sand is washed down and lodges on the points. Great quantities of grapes on the banks. I observe three different kinds, at this time ripe; one of the number is large and has the flavor of the purple grape. Camped on the S.S. The mosquitoes very troublesome. The man who went back after his knife has not yet come up. We have some reasons to believe he has deserted.
Reprinted by permission of the American Studies Programs at the University of Virginia.
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