[Lewis, May 20, 1804]
Sunday May 20th 1804
The morning was fair, and the weather pleasent; at 10 oCk A M. agreably
to an appointment of the preceeding day, I was joined by Capt.
Stoddard, Lieuts. Milford & Worrell together with Messrs. A. Chouteau,
C. Gratiot, and many other respectable inhabitants of St. Louis, who
had engaged to accompany me to the Vilage of St. Charles; accordingly
at 12 Oclk after bidding an affectionate adieu to my Hostis, that
excellent woman the spouse of Mr. Peter Chouteau, and some of my fair
friends of St. Louis, we set forward to that village in order to join
my friend companion and fellow labourer Capt. William Clark who had
previously arrived at that place with the party destined for the
discovery of the interior of the continent of North America the first 5
miles of our rout laid through a beatifull high leavel and fertile
prarie which incircles the town of St. Louis from N. W. to S. E. the
lands through which we then passed are somewhat broken up fertile the
plains and woodlands are here indiscriminately interspersed untill you
arrive within three miles of the vilage when the woodland commences and
continues to the Missouri the latter is extreamly fertile. At half
after one P.M. our progress was interrupted the near approach of a
violent thunder storm from the N. W. and concluded to take shelter in a
little cabbin hard by untill the rain should be over; accordingly we
alighted and remained about an hour and a half and regailed ourselves
with a could collation which we had taken the precaution to bring with
us from St. Louis.

The clouds continued to follow each other in rapaid succession,
insomuch that there was but little prospect of it's ceasing to rain
this evening; as I had determined to reach St. Charles this evening and