In St. Louis, shopping and other preparations are nearly complete, and the captains will soon leave for Washington City. Near present Great Bend, Kansas, explorer Zebulon Pike is reunited with his men. Hoping to send some of them home, he searches for trees to make canoes.
Arkansas River
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Rendezvous at the Great Bend
Commenced our route at a good time, and about ten o’clock, discovered two men on horse-back in search of us, (one my waiter;) they informed us the party was encamped on the Arkansaw, about three miles south of where then were: this surprised us very much as we had no conception of that river being so near.[1]Donald Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 1:336.
Searching for Canoe Trees
In the afternoon the doctor and myself took our horses and crossed the Arkansaw, in order to search for some trees which might answer the purpose to make canoes; found but one and returned at dusk.[2]Ibid., 1:336–337.
Notes
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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.
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