The month of May finds the expedition still at their winter camp at River Dubois, the present Wood River across the Mississippi from St. Louis. An attempt is made to tilt the barge to one side so that its bottom can be inspected.
Scale Model of the “Boat” or “Barge”
Conception by Richard C. Boss
James Wylder photo. Courtesy Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, Great Falls, Montana.
Heeling the Barge
Some fog this morning Several Country people arive I attempt to [Heel] the boat
—William Clark
Working from William Clark’s detailed plan and profile drawings and accompanying notes as well as references scattered throughout the journals, and with a thoughtful review of scant contemporary documentations and recent historical interpretations, nautical historian Richard Boss created models of the barge (called the boat, barge, and bateau but never the keelboat) and the “red” and “white” pirogues, as well as samples of two of their dugout canoes plus a Coastal Indian canoe that the captains acquired on the lower Columbia River. Boss built his models at a scale of one-half inch to the foot.
He gave all of them to the Fort Clatsop National Memorial, which eventually placed them on permanent loan to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana. With the Center’s permission, photographs of Mr. Boss’s models are used to illustrate discussions of those watercrafts on Discovering Lewis & Clark.[1]Richard C. Boss, “Keelboat, Pirogue, and Canoe: Vessels Used by the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery,” Nautical Research Journal, Vol. 38, No. 2 (June 1993), 68-87. There have been … Continue reading
Weather Diary
Thermometer at rise
Weather Wind at Thermometer at 4 oCk. P.M. Weather Wind at 4 oCk. P.M River 28 above fair S E 62 above fair N. E. fall 4 ½ in. —Meriwether Lewis[2]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.
Winter Camp at Wood River (Camp Dubois) is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site, near Hartford, Illinois, is managed as Lewis and Clark State Historic Site and is open to the public.
Notes
| ↑1 | Richard C. Boss, “Keelboat, Pirogue, and Canoe: Vessels Used by the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery,” Nautical Research Journal, Vol. 38, No. 2 (June 1993), 68-87. There have been other reconstructions of the expedition’s flagship all of which drew international attention during the Bicentennial observance: Butch Bouvier, L&C Replicas in Onawa, Iowa; the Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center of Charlottesville, Virginia; the Lewis and Clark State Historical Site, Hartford, Illinois; the Lewis & Clark Boat House and Nature Center, St. Charles, Missouri; and the Missouri Valley Legacy Center, Bismarck, North Dakota. |
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| ↑2 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations. |
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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.
This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
- The Capital Gallery (Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation)
- Yellowstone Public Radio
Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).