Day-by-Day / September 13, 1804

September 13, 1804

Porcupine for supper

Islands and sandbars crowd the Missouri and slow down progress. Ordway, Pryor, and Shannon walk the shore to gather plums. Near present Grandview, South Dakota, the three spend the night alone and have porcupine for supper.

Shannon’s Return

by Yellowstone Public Radio[1]Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © … Continue reading

Porcupine

Erethizon dorsatum

Large rodent with sharp quills

Photo provided by the U.S. National Park Service.

Gathering Plums

myself Sergt. Pryor & Shannon walked on Shore S. S. in order to get Some plumbs in a bottom prarie. we found pleanty but they were not quite ripe.
—John Ordway

Porcupine for Supper

we could not git to the Boat for a willow Island which was between & Sand bars &.C. N. B. the Boat passd. Several Isds. & camped on N. S— we Camped in a grove of cottonwood Timber. Eat one porcupine for Supper. the Musquetoes Troubled us verry much.—
—John Ordway

Related: Hunters Lost and Found | Mosquitoes | Sandbar Hazards

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © 2003 by Yellowstone Public Radio.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.

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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).