The Rosebush, Small Honeysuckle,
Pulpy-Leaved Thorn, Southernwood, Sage, Box-Elder, Narrow-Leaved
Cottonwood, Redwood, And A Species Of Sumach,
Are all abundant.
So, too, are the red and black gooseberries, service-berry,
choke-cherry, and the black, yellow, red,
And purple currants,
which last seems to be a favorite food of the bear.
Before camping we landed and took on board Captain Clark,
with the meat he had collected during this day's hunt,
which consisted of one deer and an elk; we had, ourselves, shot a
deer and an antelope."
The party found quantities of wild onions of good flavor and size.
They also observed wild flax, garlic, and other vegetable products of value.
The journal adds: -
"We saw many otter and beaver to-day [July 24th]. The latter seem
to contribute very much to the number of islands, and the widening
of the river. They begin by damming up the small channels of about
twenty yards between the islands: this obliges the river to seek
another outlet, and, as soon as this is effected, the channel stopped
by the beaver becomes filled with mud and sand. The industrious animal
is then driven to another channel, which soon shares the same fate,
till the river spreads on all sides, and cuts the projecting points
of the land into islands. We killed a deer, and saw great numbers
of antelopes, cranes, some geese, and a few red-headed ducks.
The small birds of the plains and the curlew are still abundant:
we saw a large bear, but could not come within gunshot of him.
There are numerous tracks of the elk, but none of the animals themselves;
and, from the appearance of bones and old excrement, we suppose that
buffalo sometimes stray into the valley, though we have as yet seen no
recent sign of them.
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