Day-by-Day / June 5, 1806

June 5, 1806

Long Camp grasses

A Nez Perce man reports that he was unable to cross the Bitterroot Mountains due to snow and toddler Jean Baptiste is given a new medical treatment. Lewis describes Long Camp area grasses and collects two plants: the trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa) and silky lupine (Lupinus sericeus).

Grass

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

Jean Baptiste’s New Medicine

the child is recovering fast the inflamation has subsided intirely, we discontinued the poltice, and applyed a plaster of basilicon; the part is still considerably swolen and hard.
Meriwether Lewis

Mountains Blocked by Snow

In the afternoon four hunters came in with the meat of five more deer, and a bear. An Indian came with them, who had been part of the way over the mountains; but found the road too bad and the snow too deep to cross; so we are obliged to remain where we are sometime longer.
Patrick Gass

Area Grasses

among the grasses of this country I observe a large speceis which grows in moist situations . . . . a second speceis grows in tussucks and rises to the hight of six or eight feet . . . . a third speceis resembles the cheet, tho’ the horses feed on it very freely. a fourth and most prevalent speceis is a grass which appears to be the same called the blue grass common to many parts of the United States;
—Meriwether Lewis

Observing Equal Altitudes

Observed equal Altitudes of the sun with Sextant.
—Meriwether Lewis

 

Trumpet Honeysuckle

yellow; On the Kooskooskee [Clearwater] Jun: 5th 1806
—Meriwether Lewis[2]Lonicera ciliosa. Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 100.

Silky Lupine

New Species Flowers cream colored with a Small fringe of blue. On the Kooskooskee Jun 5th 1806
—Meriwether Lewis[3]Lupinus sericeus. Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 102.

 

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
fair S E. fair N W raised 4 in.

last night was colder than usual but no frost.— the river fell 3½ inches in the course of the day and raised 4 I. last night as [s]tated in the diary. this fluctuating state of the river no doubt is caused by the influence of the sun in the course of the day on the snows of the mountains; the accession of water thus caused in the day dose not reach us untill night when it produces a rise in the river.— The wild roots is in blume. the river fell 10 Ins. in the course of this day.
—Meriwether Lewis[4]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 Lonicera ciliosa. Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 100.
3 Lupinus sericeus. Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 102.
4 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.