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Lower Portage Campsite, Missouri River, Chouteau County, Montana,

July 14, 2000

[Lewis]                                                                             Sunday June 23^rd 1805.

. . . this evening the men repaired their mockersons, and put on double souls to

protect their feet from the prickley pears.   during the late rains the buffaloe have

troden up the praire very much, which having now become dry the sharp points of

earth as hard as frozen ground stand up in such abundance that there is no avoiding

them.   this is particulary severe on the feet of the men who have not only their own

wight to bear in treading on those hacklelike points but have also the addition of the

burthen which they draw and which in fact is as much as they can possibly move with.

they are obliged to halt and rest frequently for a few minutes, at every halt these poor

fellows tumble down and are so much fatiegues that many of them are asleep in an

instant; in short their fatiegues are incredible; some are limping from the soreness of

their feet, others faint and unable to stand for a few minutes, with heat and fatiegue,

yet no one complains, all go with cheerfullness.