Fort Mandan, ND Blacksmiths shoe horses and three sleds are prepared to retrieve the harvest from Clark’s hunt. Lewis is amazed that Indian horses prefer cottonwood bark over meal.
Hunters Return
by Richard Schlecht
Courtesy U.S. National Park Service, Gateway Arch National Park. Digital restoration by Kristopher K. Townsend.
Shoeing Horses
ordered the Blacksmith to shoe the horses and some others to prepare some gears in order to send them down with three slays to join the hunting party and transport the meat which they may have pocured to this place—
—Meriwether Lewis
Cottonwood for Horses
Drewyer arrived with the horses about the same time, the horses appeared much fatieged I directed some meal brands given them moisened with a little water but to my astonishment found that they would not eat it but prefered the bark of the cotton wood which forms the principall article of food usually given them by their Indian masters in the winter season;
—William Clark
Returning Hunters
A little after dark this evening Capt. Clark arrived with the hunting party— since they set out they have killed forty Deer, three buffaloe bulls, & sixteen Elk, most of them were so meager that they were unfit for uce,
—Meriwether Lewis
Hungry Wolves
the wolves also which are here extreemly numerous heped themselves to a considerable proportion of the hunt— if an anamal is killed and lyes only one night exposed to the wolves it is almost invariably devoured by them.
—Meriwether Lewis
Weather Diary
State of the Ther. at rise
Weather Wind at Thermt. at 4 oCk. P.M. Weather Wind at 4 oCk. P.M. River 14 [below 0] fair S E 2 [above 0] fair W. Capt. Clark and party returned from hunting
—Meriwether Lewis[1]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “State of the River at
Fort Mandan is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The North Dakota Department of Parks and Recreation manages a modern reconstruction and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center located at US Hwy 83 and ND Hwy 200A.
Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. A unit of the National Park System, the site is located at 564 County Road 37, one-half mile north of Stanton, North Dakota. It has exhibits, trails, and a visitor center.
Notes
| ↑1 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “State of the River at rise” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations. |
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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).