Three visiting fur traders leave Fort Mandan, and Clark updates his maps using the geographic information obtained from them. Due to the cold, guard duty is shortened, and a bison hunt is canceled. Clark attempts to understand why a trader took one of Charbonneau‘s horses.
Fort Mandan Guard
© Michael Haynes, https://www.mhaynesart.com. Used with permission.
Shortened Guard Duty
verry cold last night So that the Sentinel had to be relieved everry half hour dureing all last night.
—John Ordway
Updated Maps
the Tradors left us eairly this morning. we accomodatd them with a Sled which they draw by a horse their Robes & furs over to their Forts.
—John OrdwayI imploy my Self makeing a Small map of Connection &.
—William Clark
Too Cold to Hunt
abt. 12 hunters Got ready eairly to hunt the buffalow. Some of them went out on the hills but found it So cold that they would not follow the Buffo in the praries So they returned to the Fort.
—John Ordway
Charbonneau’s Debt
Sent Jessomme [René Jusseaume] to the Main Chief of the mandans to know the Cause of his detaining or takeing a horse of Chabonoe our big belly interpeter, which we found was thro: the rascallity of one Lafrance a trader from the N W. Company, who told this Cheif that Chabonah owd. him a horse to go and take him he done So agreeable to an indian Custom— he gave up the horse
—William Clark
Weather Diary
Ther. at rise
Weather Wind at Thert. at 4 P.M. Weather Wind at 4 P.M. River 32 below fair W 16 fair S W rise 1 in. —Meriwether Lewis[2]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.
Fort Mandan is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The North Dakota Department of Parks and Recreation manages a modern reconstruction and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center located at US Hwy 83 and ND Hwy 200A.
Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. A unit of the National Park System, the site is located at 564 County Road 37, one-half mile north of Stanton, North Dakota. It has exhibits, trails, and a visitor center.
Notes
| ↑1 | W. Raymond Wood and Thomas D. Thiessen, Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738–1818 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985), 142. |
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| ↑2 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations. |
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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).