It was the daily custom of the captains to make rough notes, with rude outline maps, plans, and miscellaneous sketches, in field books which they doubtless carried in their pockets. When encamped for a protracted period, these were developed into more formal records. In this development each often borrowed freely from the other's notes—Lewis, the better scholar of the two, generally rewriting in his own manner the material obtained from Clark; but the latter not infrequently copied Lewis practically verbatim, but with his own phonetic spelling.
Upon reaching St. Louis, on the return (September 23, 1806), these individual journals were for the most part transcribed by their authors into neat blank books—bound in red morocco, and gilt-edged—with the thought of preparing them for early publication. After this process, the original field books must have been cast aside and in large measure destroyed; for but one of these[1] is now known to exist—a bulky duodecimo, containing about 20,000 words, wrapped in an irregular piece of soft elkskin, rudely stitched to the back. There have come down to us, however, several notebooks which apparently were written up in the camps.
Altogether, these journals of the captains cover each and every day the expedition was out; largely a double record, although occasionally there are periods when we have the journal of but one of them.[2] The manuscripts well exemplify the habits and characteristics of the two men Clark, the more experienced frontiersman of the
- ↑ By Clark, dated September 13-December 31, 1805, and described post.
- ↑ We have much more of Clark in these journals, than of Lewis. The lacunae in the Lewis manuscripts, as compared with the dates covered by Clark, are as follows:
1804—May 14, 16-19, 21–September 15; September 18–December 31 = 228 days.
1805—January 1–February 2; February 14-April 6; August 27–September 8; September 11-17, 23–November 28: December 1–31 = 168 days.
1806—August 13–September 26 = 45 days. But during much of this period Lewis was disabled from a wound, and therefore unable to write.
