6 BULLETIN 183, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



On the 25th: "The Praries come witliin a short distance of the 

 river on each Side which Contains in addition to Phunbs Raspber- 

 ries &c vast quantities of wild apples, great numb"- of Deer are seen 

 feeding . . ." 



On the 26th : ". . . camped, in the Point above the Kansas River 

 I [Clark] observed a great number of Parrot queets [Carolina para- 

 keets] this evening . . ." 



On the 27th, still at this camp on or near the present site of Kan- 

 sas City, Kans., the explorers noted that "the Countrey about the 

 mouth of this [Kansas] river is very fine on each Side as well as 

 North of the Missouri the Bottom in the Point is low and overflows 

 for 250 yards . . ." 



Here, too, on the 28th, "our hunters killed Several Deer and Saw 

 Buffalow . . ." 



For June 30 we have the following comments: "A verry large 

 wolf came to the bank and looked at us this morning, pass*^- the 

 mouth of a Small river 10 m^- above the Kansas called by the french 

 Petite River Platte (or Shoal river) from the number of falls in 

 it. . . . Some of the party who went up told that the lands on this 

 Small river is good, and on it several falls well calculated for mills 

 . . . emence numb"- of Deer on the banks. Skipping in every 

 direction, the party killed nine Bucks on the river & Bank today. The 

 Countrey on the SS [starboard side, i. e., left bank] between the 

 Shoal River and Missouris is indefferent Subject to overflow, that 

 below and on the LS [larboard side] is high and appears well 

 timbered . . ." 



On July 1, in the vicinity of present Leavenworth, there were 

 "paccawn [pecan] Trees Seen on the S. S. Deer and Turkeys in 

 great quantities on the bank. . ." Above this point, geese (includ- 

 ing goslings), swans and cygnets, and elk were noted, besides fine 

 growths of walnut, oak, honeysuckle, buckeye, and great quantities 

 of summer and fall grapes, berries, and roses. 



A few years later, in 180&', Capt. Clark led a detachment of 

 dragoons overland up the Missouri from St. Charles to establish 

 Fort Osage in what is now northeastern Jackson County (Gregg, 

 1937). Three days (65 miles) out of St. Charles, he noted abun- 

 dance of turkeys, partridges, grouse, and deer. On the fourth day 

 elk were seen, and on the fifth, after crossing Cedar Creek between 

 Boone and Calloway Counties, there were signs of bison. Soon 

 after, near present New Franklin, a bison was killed. Through- 

 out, bear and elk were plentiful. 



Bradbury (Thwaites, 1904b) ascended the river in the spring of 

 1811, and somewhere near the mouth of Naduet (Nodaway) River he 

 "discovered that pigeons were in the ^Yoods . . . and in a few hours 



