Day-by-Day / May 16, 1806

May 16, 1806

Dispelling winds

At Long Camp, the Captains’ mess eats yampah and onions gathered by Sacagawea to help dispel the wind caused from digesting camas and cous roots. The flooding Collins Creek [present Lolo Creek, Idaho] limits the hunters‘ range, and John Shields brings Lewis a woodpecker new to science.

Grizzly Bears, Again

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

Gairdner’s Yampah

Sahcargarmeah [Sacagawea] geathered a quantity of the roots of a speceis of fennel which we found very agreeable food, the flavor of this root is not unlike annis seed, and they dispell the wind which the roots called Cows [cous root] and quawmash [camas] are apt to create particularly the latter.
Meriwether Lewis

Geyer’s Onions

we also boil a small onion which we find in great abundance, with other roots and find them also an antidote to the effects of the others. the mush of roots we find adds much to the comfort of our diet.—
—Meriwether Lewis

 

Flooding Lolo (Collins) Creek

they informed us that game was wild and scarce, that a large creek (Collins‘ Creek) ran parallel with the river at the distance of about 5 or 6 miles which they found impracticable to pass with their horses in consequence of the debth and rapidity of it’s current. beyond this creek the Indians inform us that there is great abundance of game.
—Meriwether Lewis

Lewis’s Woodpecker

Shields rode out and hunted in the morning without Suckcess he returned at 11 A. M. having killed only a black wood pecker with a red breast as discribed hereafter.
—Meriwether Lewis

 

Weather Diary

State of the Weather at sun symbol rise Wind at sun symbol rise State of the Weather at 4 P.M. Wind at 4 P.M. State of the Kooskooskee
cloudy S E cloudy after rain S E raised 6 in.

last night was uncommonly warm river rising fast. say 9 Inches
—Meriwether Lewis[2]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented, the river columns have been merged, and some abbreviations have been spelled out.

 

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.
2 To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented, the river columns have been merged, and some abbreviations have been spelled out.

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.