Meriwether Lewis and his flotilla of boats move down the Ohio towards a rendezvous with William Clark at the Falls of the Ohio. He may have reached the Kentucky River, described here by Thomas Rodney.[1]No known record exists of Lewis’s travel on this date. We do know that he had left Big Bone Lick by 10 October and that he arrived at the Falls of the Ohio on 14 October. Using Thomas Rodney’s … Continue reading
Kentucky River Mouth c. 1908
Courtesy http://www.nkyviews.com. Used with permission.
The text at the bottom of this photo says: “At the meeting of the ways. Kentucky River joins the Ohio River.”
The Kentucky River
On 11 October 1803, just a few days behind Lewis, Thomas Rodney describes the mouth of the Kentucky River and Port William, now known as Carrollton:
We passed the mouth of Kentucky River. This is a large river about the size of the Great Kanawa at [blank] but not so deep as there appears drift wood in it.
There is a pretty little town on the uper side with 6 or 7 brick houses in it and 15 to 20 wooden ones. The situation is pleasant.
—Thomas Rodney[2]11 October 1803. Dwight L. Smith and Ray Swick, ed., A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney’s 1803 Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997), … Continue reading
Notes
| ↑1 | No known record exists of Lewis’s travel on this date. We do know that he had left Big Bone Lick by 10 October and that he arrived at the Falls of the Ohio on 14 October. Using Thomas Rodney’s journal and Cramer’s 1802 river guide, The Navigator, one conjecture is that Lewis reached Carrollton at the mouth of the Kentucky River on this day. |
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| ↑2 | 11 October 1803. Dwight L. Smith and Ray Swick, ed., A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney’s 1803 Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997), 115. |
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.
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.
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Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
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- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
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- 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).