106 
IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 
Referring to this locality in his valuable edition of these Jour- 
nals, Thwaites makes the following statement 
‘ ‘ This is the origin of the name now applied to a city in Iowa 
opposite Omaha, Neb. ; but Coues thinks . . . that the place 
of this council was higher up the river, on what was later the 
site of Ft. Calhoun, in the present Washington County, Ne- 
braska. He also calls attention to the well known uncertainty 
and constant shifting of the Missouri’s channels, rendering it 
difficult to identify historic- points. ’ ’ 
This cautious statement might give the impression that it is 
not quite certain that Cones’ conclusion was right. But the evi- 
dence that this point is some distance above the city of Council 
Bluffs, and that it is on the Nebraska side of the IMlissouri river, is 
clear and the place may be readily identified from the early de- 
scriptions of Lewis and Clark and those who fofiowed them 
later. This evidence may be briefiy stated as follows : 
In the acount of the journey up the Missouri river the Clark 
Journal states^ that Camp No. 9 was located 10 miles above the 
Platt River,” and that in ascending the Missouri river from 
this point the party traveled 15 miles on July 27th (p. 91) ; 
10% miles on July 28th (p. 93) ; 10 miles on July 29th (pp. 93, 
94) ; and 3% mites on July 30th, — to Council Bluff, — making a 
total of 49 miles. This carries ''Council Bluff” about 27 miles 
beyond the city of Council Bluffs (i.e., to the north). Some 
discrepancies occur in the distances reported in different parts 
of the Journals, but these do not materially affect the result. 
Thus in the Original Journal o^ Private Joseph Whitehouse^ 
the distance from "the Great River Platt” to the first camp 
above (Camp 9) is given as 12 miles (p. 44) ; and the subsequent 
distances are given respectively as 15 miles (p. 46), 10 miles 
(p. 46), 11% miles (p. 46), and 4 miles (p. 47), — making a total 
of 52% miles. However, in his "Distances and Latitudes,” p. 
189, Whitehouse gives the distance along the river to the "Mouth 
of Plate River” as 632 miles, and to "Council Bluffs”, as 682 
miles, making the distance between these points 50 miles. The 
distances as given on the return trip, September 5th to 8th, 
^See volume i, p. 98 — footnote. 
3See. the Thwaites edition, volume I. Unless otherwise stated the quota- 
tions from the Lewis and Clark Journals are taken from the Thwaites edition 
as this is an exact copy. The editor of the Coues’ edition took greater 
liberties with the original Journals, q,nd that edition is therefore less reliable. 
' -Wolume VII of the Original Journals. 
