p61 1817 Journal Thomas Dean

on the west shore around the bend. He towed his canoe. I There was not water enough for our boat. We came about i ten miles this day and lay on the west side of the river. August 28th. We unloaded our boat early in the morning, carried our baggage seventy or eighty reds up the west shore, then crossed over to the east shore, towed the boat up the rapids, crossed over, took in our things, proceeded up over a rocky bottom and much shoal water that we often had to be out to lift and shove her up hfty or 100 rods in a place. Our passage was thus very slow and tedious, but we found the channel without rnuch difficulty, where there was any, but the river was wide. It spread over a wide, Bat rock. About half past 3 r. M. we came to the forks of the rivers, which we supposed were the Mississinewa and Wabash. One came in from the north and the other from the northeast. The latter we thought was the Mississinewa, but it contained more water than the other, which was dif- ferent from the information we had received. Paul Dick went up the north branch and R. Fowler the other. When R. Fowler returned he said he thought we could not go up that branch, if it was the Wabash. Paul returned and said that the northeast branch was impassable, that the water . was very shallow, there were falls in it of two or three feet perpendicular. It began to grow dark, looked like rain; we concluded to fall down the river sixty or seventy rods to an old shelter that was made by the Indians for hunting, and left by them, where we put up for the night. R. Fowler, Paul Dick, and I lodged on shore under the shelter. We made a. little fire. We came about five or six xniles this day.

August 29th. This morning I awoke at about 2 o'dock