THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 467 



than half an hour. They gnawed the leather straps of my 

 trunks during the night, and although I rose frequently to 

 stop their work, they would begin anew as soon as I was 

 in bed again. I wrote and sent most of the above to 

 John Bachman from St. Louis, after I had finished my 

 drawing of four figures of these most strange and most 

 interesting creatures. 



And now to return to this day: When we reached 

 Glasgow, we came in under the stern of the "John Auld." 

 As I saw several officers of the United States army I 

 bowed to them, and as they all knew that I was bound 

 towards the mighty Rocky Mountains, they not only re- 

 turned my salutations, but came on board, as well as 

 Father de Smet.^ They all of them came to my room 

 and saw specimens and skins. Among them was Captain 

 Clark,^ who married the sister of Major Sandford, whom 

 you all know. They had lost a soldier overboard, two 

 had deserted, and a fourth was missing. We proceeded 

 on until about ten o'clock, and it was not until the 2d of 

 May that we actually reached Independence. 



May 2. It stopped raining in the night while I was 

 sound asleep, and at about one o'clock we did arrive at 

 Independence, distant about 379 miles from St. Louis. ^ 

 Here again was the "John Auld," putting out freight for 

 the Santa F6 traders, and we saw many of their wagons. 



1 p. J. de Smet, the Jesuit priest, well known for his missionary labors 

 among various tribes of Indians in the Rocky Mountains, on the Columbia 

 River, and in other parts of the West. His work entitled " Oregon Missions 

 and Travels over the Rocky Mountains in 1845-46 " was published in New 

 York by Edward Dunigan in 1847. On p. 39 of this book will be found 

 mention of the journey Father de Smet was taking in 1843, when met by 

 Audubon. — E. C. 



2 Captain Clark of the U. S. A. 



8 The distance of Independence from the mouth of the Missouri is about 

 376 miles by the Commission charts. In 1843 this town was still, as it 

 long had been, the principal point of departure from the river on the 

 Santa Fe caravan route. Trains starting hence went through Westport, 

 Mo., and so on into the " Indian Territory." — E. C. 



