Day-by-Day / June 4, 1806

June 4, 1806

Seeking guides and diplomats

Lewis fails to secure Nez Perce guides to accompany him to the Falls of the Missouri. Clark seeks guides to accompany him to the Yellowstone River. Along the way, he hopes they will make a peace treaty with the Shoshones.

Nez Perce Man, 1899

Edward S. Curtis (1868–1952)

Portrait of a 'noble savage' gazing at the camera

Courtesy Northwestern University Library, “The North American Indian”: the Photographic Images, 2001.

Lewis’s Invitation Ignored

they gave us no positive answer to a request which we made, that two or three of their young men should accompany me to the falls of the Missouri and there wait my return from the upper part of Maria’s river where it was probable I should meet with some of the bands of the Minnetares from Fort de Prarie [Atsinas];
—Meriwether Lewis

The three Nez Perce chiefs were likely Broken Arm, Cut Nose, and Red Grizzly Bear.
Also related: Dividing Forces at Travelers’ Rest | Trail Diplomacy | Road to the Buffalo

Nez Perce-Shoshone Peace Treaty?

I also urged the necessaty of Sending one or two of their Considerate men to accompany me by the way of the Shoshonees on the head of Jeffersons river and about the three forks of the Missouri which whome there is most probably Some of the Chiefs of those bands of Shoshones with whome they are at war, and by which means a message Sent to that nation & good understanding brought about between the Shoshones and the Chopunnish Nations which appears to be the wish of both Nations.
—William Clark

 

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 at sun symbol rise
cloudy after rain S. E. fair after cloudy N W raised 1½ in.

rained greater part of last night but fell in no great quantity— yesterday the water was at it’s greatest hight at noon, between which and dark it fell 15 inches and in the course of the night raised 1½ inches as stated in the diary. from the indian information the river will now subisde and may therefore be said to have been at it’s greatest annual hight on the 3rd inst. at noon.—
—Meriwether Lewis[1]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.

Related: Thermometers and Temperatures | Weather Observations

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 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.

This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.

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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).