While Clark and Lewis prepared for departing Louisville, Lewis likely examined the unique ledges of Jefferson Limestone that create the series of dangerous rapids called the Falls of the Ohio, here described by fellow traveler Thomas Rodney.
A “Flat Pavement”
‘Indiana’ Channel
Falls of the Ohio
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On the Kentucky shore quite to the middle channel the rock is all a flat pavement down to and round the island. The channel on the Kentucky shore however is now dry and the water all decends on that side of the island next the NW shore.
—Thomas Rodney[1]16 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
More a series of rapids than a waterfall, the navigational hazard was created by the Ohio River eroding the hard limestone rock of the 386-million-old rocks called Jeffersonville Limestone. This also created a natural crossing point for bison and Native Americans.
Notes
| ↑1 | 16 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), 123. |
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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.
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- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
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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).