On this day with Lewis & Clark

November 20, 1803

Turning up the Mississippi

The expedition leaves the mouth of the Ohio River and turns the boats against the Mississippi current. They make ten or eleven miles and encamp on the Illinois shore within the ‘Grand Bend’.

November 20, 1804

Sioux threats

At Fort Mandan below the Knife River Villages, Charbonneau brings in a large load of meat and furs, and the captains move into their quarters. Three chiefs from Ruptáre bring news of a Sioux threat.

November 20, 1805

Sacagawea's belt of blue beads

At Station Camp on present Baker Bay, the captains meet with Chiefs Concomly and Shelathwell. Another Indian trades two sea otter skins for Sacagawea‘s belt of blue beads, and she is given a new coat.

Featured Trail Segments

Blue sky and water below low cliffs

Up the Mississippi

14 November—11 December 1803

On 20 November 1803—after the expedition encamps nearly a week at the mouth of the Ohio—the barge and boats are moved against the Mississippi current.

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Day-by-Day Pages In-depth Articles


Fort Mandan surrounded by snow and ice

Winter at Fort Mandan

26 October 1804–6 April 1805

On 2 November 1804 below the Knife River Villages, work begins on the expedition’s winter fortification. The men’s quarters, storage rooms, and the 16-foot pickets, are designed for defense against hostile Indians, especially the Sioux, who would be quite troublesome, although they never attacked the fort directly. “This place we have named Fort Mandan,” Lewis recorded, “in honour of our Neighbours”—their kind and congenial Mandan Indians. Here they celebrate their second Christmas and New Year’s Day.

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Day-by-Day Pages In-depth Articles


Three Indians view the Celilo Falls

Down the Columbia

18 October–6 December 1805

In five battered dugout canoes, the expedition paddles down the Columbia River—a river that they know will take them to the Pacific Ocean. They safely pass a series of rapids and falls between Celilo Falls and the Cascades of the Columbia. In the Columbia River Gorge, they see stunning geologic features.

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Day-by-Day Pages In-depth Articles


Featured Artist Charles Fritz

A winter fire lights the men and a tepee

The Discussion

Painting of men towing a large red boat up the river

Cordelling the Red Pirogue

Clark and Sacagawea view the ocean

Pacific Ocean from Point of Clark’s View

Bio and Index

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    People

    The success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was due to its many members and the people they met, including politicians, Eastern gentleman scientists, traders, and the many people already living in the American west.

     

    Legacies

    Legacy is a very slippery sort of term. If we could erase our myth concepts of Lewis and Clark … it might reawaken something really extraordinary in our national consciousness.

     

    Native American Nations

    The Lewis and Clark Expedition benefited from the Indians’ knowledge and support. Maps, route information, food, horses, open-handed friendship—all gave the Corps of Discovery the edge that spelled the difference between success and failure.

     

    Hunting and Fishing

    Although hunting and fishing were often considered a ‘gentleman’s sport’ especially in Europe, hunting and fishing for Native Americans and Americans alike were a matter of survival. The success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition depended on the success of its hunters.

     

    Horse Travel

    To cross the Rocky Mountains, the Lewis and Clark Expedition needed horses and the skills to manage them. Despite their seemingly constant struggle to find missing and stolen horses, as a kind of calvary unit, they left hoof prints on approximately 1,500 miles of western terrain.

     

    The Arts

    Because of the literate journalists, historians and visual artists can tell the Expedition’s story. When they celebrated with song and dance, we too can share in the experience.

     

    The Trail

    Starting with its genesis in Jefferson’s Monticello, Lewis’s training and preparations in Philadelphia, and the barge’s excursion down the Ohio River, the route they took, often called the Lewis and Clark Trail, crosses the continent weaving an epic tale of western exploration treasured by many today.

     

    Medicine on the Trail

    From major crisis such as the death of Sgt. Floyd, Lewis’s gunshot wound, and the illness of Sacagawea to minor events such as sexually transmitted diseases, mosquito-born illnesses, and deep cuts, the medical aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition provide an interesting topic of study.

     

    Calendar

    Expedition Calendar

    Links to every day-by-day page in a calendar format spanning 31 August 1803 to 26 September 1806. A page every day!

     

    Louisiana’s Purchase

    The President’s representatives in Paris had bargained successfully with Napoleon’s bureaucrats not only to buy the port of New Orleans, then the keystone of the continent, but also to acquire, at three cents an acre, an area extending from the Mississippi River to . . . where? No one knew until Meriwether Lewis stood at the crest of the Rocky Mountains at a place known today as Lemhi Pass, on 12 August 1805.

     

    The Fur Trade

    Given President Jefferson’s directive to establish commerce, the captains worked extensively within a long-established network of North American fur trade. Part of their mission was to help establish the United States of America’s position within that industry.

     

    The Boats

    Starting at Pittsburgh, traveling to the Pacific Ocean, and then returning to St. Louis, the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled approximately 10,600 miles. Of that, 85%—over 9,000 miles—was by boat. To understand travel in the early 1800 American West is to understand the boats and challenges of river navigation.

     

Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail

The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.

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Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.