Two
men had been sent this morning for timber to complete it, but they could
find scarcely any even tolerably straight sticks four and one-half feet
long; and as the cottonwood is too soft and brittle, we were obliged to
use willow and box-elder."
On the twenty-seventh, the main party, which was working on the upper
part of the portage, joined that of Captain Clark at the lower camp,
where a second cache, or place of deposit, had been formed, and where
the boat-swivel was now hidden under the rocks. The journal says:--
"The party were employed in preparing timber for the boat, except two
who were sent to hunt. About one in the afternoon a cloud arose from
the southwest, and brought with it violent thunder, lightning, and hail.
Soon after it passed, the hunters came in, from about four miles above
us. They had killed nine elk and three bears. As they were hunting on
the river they saw a low ground covered with thick brushwood, where from
the tracks along shore they thought a bear had probably taken refuge.
They therefore landed, without making a noise, and climbed a tree about
twenty feet above the ground. Having fixed themselves securely, they
raised a loud shout, and a bear instantly rushed toward them. These
animals never climb, and therefore when he came to the tree and stopped
to look at them, Drewyer shot him in the head. He proved to be the
largest we had yet seen; his nose appeared to be like that of a common
ox; his fore feet measured nine inches across; the hind feet were seven
inches wide and eleven and three quarters long, exclusive of the talons.
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