Note I-23 — Chapter I · ITINERARY: ST. LOUIS TO ST. PAUL, AUGUST 9TH-SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1805.

We are not told which side of the river this was, and the sentence is otherwise ambiguous, as all streams hereabouts are branches of the river. We know he means a bayou or slough, by following which he expected soon to regain the Mississippi ahead of his boats, and I suppose that Huron slough, on the Iowa side, led him astray. The slough itself is not long, merely cutting off Huron and some smaller islands for four miles; but this receives Iowa slough, which meanders toward the river, and so would take Pike and Bradley away from the river if they followed it up. This supposition is strengthened by Pike's using the word "savannah," which with him means rather marsh or bog than prairie, and he would hardly have applied it to the better ground on the Illinois side if he had gone there and been misled by Henderson r. Moreover, he continues to camp on the west side, as he would naturally do after loss of the two men who went to find his dogs; and also he expected to recover the men at the place above where the hills first come down to the river, which is at Muscatine, Ia. He does not say who these men were; they were not recovered till Sept. 1st, at Dubuque.