The boats sail 22½ miles up the Missouri River, and they encamp within view of Blackbird Hill. Lewis collects the earliest plant specimen that survives today, field horsetail.
Blackbird, King of the Omaha
by Yellowstone Public Radio[1]Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © … Continue reading
Sailing
Sailing
—We found the Musketoes very troublesome untill the Sun rose to some heighth, when they quitted us, the wind being fair we Sail’d the greatest part of this day.
—Joseph Whitehouse
“Waschinga Sahba’s Grave on Blackbird’s Hill”[2]From Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied, Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-34 (London: Ackerman & Co, 1843), Vignette 10. A vignette is a borderless picture in which the image shades … Continue reading
Karl Bodmer (1809–1893)
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress.
Blackbird’s grave is the little pinnacle near the center of the picture, on the crest of the distant bluff.
Blackbird Hill in View
Black bird the late King of the Mahars [Omahas] Toom or inclosed grave on the top of a high round Hill of about 300 feet in the Prarie L. S. bore west about 4 miles.
—William Clark
Field Horsetail
Equisetum arvense
20 May 2006 by MPF. Permission via the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Field Horsetail Specimen
No. 31. Taken on the 10th of August, a species of sand rush, joined and so much branched as to form a perfect broom; it is common to every part of this river at least as far as Latitude 42 N. it grows near the water’s edge in moist sand; the horses are remarkably fond of it.
—Meriwether Lewis
Blackbird Hill is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site is on private land in the Omaha Reservation, but can be publicly viewed from nearby roads.
Notes
| ↑1 | Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © 2003 by Yellowstone Public Radio. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | From Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied, Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-34 (London: Ackerman & Co, 1843), Vignette 10. A vignette is a borderless picture in which the image shades off irregularly into the color of the paper. |
| ↑3 | Gary E. Moulton, ed. Journals, “Fort Mandan Miscellany”, vol 3:459, 468. See also, Herbarium, specimens 61a and 61b. |
Experience 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.
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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).