At Weippe Prairie in present Idaho, Lewis describes the camas plant including how the Nez Perce People harvest and cook its bulbs. Game is scarce, and the hunters are directed to take longer, overnight excursions.
Camas, Weippe Prairie
Camassia quamash
© 7 June 2009 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Poor Hunting
All our hunters were out this morning by daylight; Labuish [Labiche] and Gibson only proved successful, the former killed a black bear of the brown speceis and a very large buck, the latter also killed a fine fat buck.
—Meriwether Lewis
The Camas Plant
I shall here give a more particular discription of that plant and the mode of preparing it for food as practiced by the Chopunnish and others in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains with whom it forms much the greatest portion of their subsistence.
—Meriwether Lewis
The Camas Bulb
this [Camas] bulb is from the size of a nutmeg to that of a hens egg and most commonly of an intermediate size or about as large as an onion of one years growth from the seed.
—Meriwether Lewis
Resuming the Chase
in the evening our hunters resumed the chase; as game has become scarce and shye near our camp they were directed to hunt at a greater distance and therefore set our prepared to remain all night and make a mornings hunt in grounds not recently frequented.
—Meriwether Lewis
Weather Diary
State of the weather at rise
Wind at State of the weather at 4 P.M. Wind at 4 P.M. fair S E fair N W at the quawmash Flats [Weippe Prairie]
—Meriwether Lewis and William Clark[1]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented and some abbreviations have been spelled out.
Weippe Prairie is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. A 274-acre tract in the prairie is managed by the Nez Perce National Historic Park.
Notes
| ↑1 | To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented and some abbreviations have been spelled out. |
|---|
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.
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).