afternoon of Monday, May 14, that the little band set off up the Missouri. They had several boats, which they propelled with oars or sails, or towed with ropes, according to the condition of the river and the direction of the wind. They proceeded very slowly, examining the river and the country, and visiting the Indians, but without any event affecting the history of South Dakota until they arrived at the mouth of the Big Sioux River at eight o'clock in the morning of August 21, 1804. That night they camped on the Nebraska shore.
Sergeant Charles Floyd having died the evening of August 20, when at the site of Sioux City, the men were allowed to select a successor to him, and the choice, which was made by ballot, fell to Patrick Gass. This occurred on the 22d when the party was encamped at Elkpoint, and it may reasonably be assumed to be the first popular election in South Dakota. The next morning Captain Lewis killed a very large buffalo upon the bottom near Burbank, from which they salted two barrels of meat.
On the 24th they arrived at the mouth of the Vermilion River, and the captains took two men and went up nine miles to examine Spirit Mound, about which they had heard strange stories from the Indians, who believed that it was inhabited by a race of dwarfs, little people not larger than gophers, who instantly put to death any one who came near their home. It is needless to say that the explorers found nothing mysterious or alarming about the very ordinary mound upon the prairie. They did, however, find much that was pleasing to them. They say in their journal, "We saw none of
