The previous night’s confusion regarding the lost hunters is sorted out, and all together again, they continue up the Missouri. As they approach the present Nebraska-Kansas border, the journalists remark on a large prairie of Canada wild rye and ‘ground apples’ growing on an island.
Large Indian Breadroot
Ground Apples or Pomme de Terre
Pediomelum esculentum, Pursh, syn. Psoralea esculentum
Location: Eastern Montana. © 5 June 2016 by Matt Levin. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC-BY-SA 2.0) license.
Friendly Fire
Set out this morning with a view to Land near the fire Seen last night, & recornetre, but Soon discovered that our men were at the fire, they were a Sleep early last evening, and from the Course of the Wind which blew hard, their yells were not hea[r]d by party in the perogue, a mistake altogether—.
—William Clark
Wild Rye and Ground Apples
Delayed 3 hours on this [Soloman’s] Island to recruit the men opposit on the L. S. is a butifull bottom Plain of about 2000 acres (3) Covered with wild rye & Potatoes, [Nicholas Biddle: ground apple; pomme de terre] intermix’t with the grass,
—William Clark
Nearing Nebraska
We set out early this morning and had a fair day and fair wind. There is a handsome prairie on the south side opposite an island. We encamped on the north side.
—Patrick Gass
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