killed; what they did not eat they left
secured for the other party with the canoes. Clark's men also had good
luck in hunting, for they killed five deer and one bighorn. Neither
party found fresh tracks of Indians, and they were greatly discouraged
thereat. The journal speaks of a beautiful valley, from six to eight
miles wide, where they saw ancient traces of buffalo occupation, but no
buffalo. These animals had now completely disappeared; they were seldom
seen in those mountains. The journal says of Lewis:--

"He saw an abundance of deer and antelope, and many tracks of elk and
bear. Having killed two deer, they feasted sumptuously, with a dessert
of currants of different colors--two species red, others yellow, deep
purple, and black; to these were added black gooseberries and deep
purple service-berries, somewhat larger than ours, from which they
differ also in color, size, and the superior excellence of their
flavor. In the low grounds of the river were many beaver-dams formed of
willow-brush, mud, and gravel, so closely interwoven that they resist
the water perfectly; some of them were five feet high, and caused the
river to overflow several acres of land."

Meanwhile, the party with the canoes were having a fatiguing time as
they toiled up the river. On the fourth of August, after they had made
only fifteen miles, the journal has this entry:--

"The river is still rapid, and the water, though clear, is very much
obstructed by shoals or ripples at every two hundred or three hundred
yards. At all these places we are obliged to drag the canoes over the
stones, as there is not a sufficient depth of water to float them, and
in the other parts the current obliges us to have recourse to the cord.
But as the brushwood on the banks will not permit us to walk on shore,
we are under the necessity of wading through the river as we drag the
boats. This soon makes our feet tender, and sometimes occasions severe
falls over the slippery stones; and the men, by being constantly wet,
are becoming more feeble. In the course of the day the hunters killed
two deer, some geese and ducks, and the party saw some antelopes,
cranes, beaver, and otter."

Captain Lewis had left a note for Captain Clark at the forks of the
Jefferson and Wisdom rivers. Clark's journal says:--

"We arrived at the forks about four o'clock, but, unluckily, Captain
Lewis's note had been attached to a green pole, which the beaver had cut
down, and carried of