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Peek Inside...Entries For September 6:
1806:
Captain Clark (current)
Captain Clark:
September 6, 1806
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We met a trading boat of Mr. Auguste Chouteau, of St. Louis, bound to the River Jacques to trade with the Yanktons. This boat was in the care of a Mr. Henry Delaunay. He had exposed all his loading to dry, and sent out five of his hands to hunt. They soon arrived with an elk. We purchased a gallon of whiskey of this man - promised to pay Chouteau, who would not receive any pay - and gave to each man of the party a dram, which is the first spirituous liquor which had been tasted by any of them since the 4th of July, 1805. Several of the party exchanged leather for linen shirts, and beaver for coarse hats.
Those men could inform us nothing more than that all the troops had moved from the Illinois and that General Wilkinson was preparing to leave St. Louis. We advised this trader to treat the Tetons with as much contempt as possible and stated to him where he would be benefited by such treatment, &c., &c. and at 1 P.M. set out. Those men gave us two shots from a swivel they had on the bow of their boat, which we returned in our turn.
Proceeded on about 3 miles and came up with two of the hunters. They had not killed anything. At 5 miles we overtook the canoe of the other hunters, with Shannon in it, floating down - the two Fieldses being in the woods behind.
Reprinted by permission of the American Studies Programs at the University of Virginia.
The complete text can also be downloaded for printing from their website.
