July 22, 1806 - Discover Lewis & Clark

Contents

At the Yellowstone canoe camp near present Laurel, Montana, Clark and his group search for missing horses. They are not found, and Crow horse thieves are suspected.

At Camp Disappointment on Cut Bank Creek, Lewis determines the Marias River watershed does not go any farther north. They stop to hunt and make celestial observations.

Above the Great Falls of the Missouri, Sgts. Ordway and Gass has their men round up their missing horses, and they cart two dugouts over the portage route. After five miles, an axle breaks.^[1]For more on the captains’ strategy and various groups after leaving Travelers’ Rest, see Dividing Forces at Travelers’ Rest.

Cut Bank Creek

For the article accompanying the above photo, see Camp Disappointment by Air.

Lewis Decides to Stop

Deciding to Stop

we arrived at a clump of large cottonwood trees in a beautifull and extensive bottom of the river about 10 miles below the foot of the rocky mountains where this river enters them; as I could see from hence very distinctly where the river entered the mountains and the bearing of this point being S of West I thought it unnecessary to proceed further.
—Meriwether Lewis

Extent of the Louisiana Territory

I now have lost all hope of the waters of this river ever extending to N Latitude 50° though I still hope and think it more than probable that both white earth river and milk river extend as far north as latd. 50°—
—Meriwether Lewis

Skittish Game

gam of every discription is extreemly wild which induces me to beleive that the [Blackfeet] indians are now, or have been lately in this neighbourhood. we wounded a buffaloe this evening but our horses were so much fatiegued that we were unable to pursue it with success.—
—Meriwether Lewis

Yellowstone River near Canoe Camp

Clark Searches for Horses

Searching Upriver

I Sent Sergt. Pryor and Shabono [Charbonneau] in Serch of the horses with directions to proceed up the river as far as the 1st narrows and examine particularly for their tracks, they returned at 3 P M and informed me that they had proceeded up the distance I derected them to go and could See neither horses nor tracks
—William Clark

Searching in Circles

I therefore derected Sergt. Pryor Shannon Shabono & Bratten [Bratton] to incircle the Camp at Some distance around and find the tracks of the horses and prosue them, they Serched for tracks all the evening without finding
—William Clark

Indians Suspected

being to Suspect that they are taken by the Indians and taken over the hard plains to prevent our following them. my Suspicions is grounded on the improbibility of the horses leaveing the grass and rushes of the river bottoms of which they are very fond, and takeing imediately out into the open dry plains where the grass is but Short and dry.
—William Clark

Horses at The Falls of the Missouri

Great Falls of the Missouri, 2 July 2011 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Gass and Ordway Portage Dugouts

Finding the Horses

a fair morning we rose eairly and turned out in different directions in Search of our 4 horses about noon they were found at the grand falls of Missourie and we tackled up the horses and set out with 2 canoes
—John Ordway

Broken Axle

we proced. about 5 miles then our extletree broke down and we had to turn back with our truck wheels leaving a man to take care of the baggage &C. we made another extletree and Started with 2 more canoes & Camped
—John Ordway

Weather Diaries

State of the weather at rise Wind at rise State of the weather at 4 P. M. Wind at 4 P. M.

fair S E fair N. E.

—Meriwether Lewis

State of the weather at rise	Wind at rise	State of the weather at 4 P. M.	Wind at 4 P. M.
fair	S E	fair	N. E.

State of the weather at Sun rise Wind at Sun rise State of the weather at 4 P. M Wind at 4 P M.

fair after thunder, lightning & rain N E cloudy N. E

raind Slightly last evening about dark with hard winds Thunder & lightning a fiew drops of rain last night at dark. the Cloud appd. to hang to the S W, wind blew hard from different points from 5 to 8 P M which time it thundered and Lightened. The river by 11 a. m. to day had risen 15 inches, and the water of a milky white Colour.
—William Clark^[2]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is omitted and some abbreviations have been spelled out.

State of the weather at Sun rise	Wind at Sun rise	State of the weather at 4 P. M	Wind at 4 P M.
fair after thunder, lightning & rain	N E	cloudy	N. E

Camp Disappointment 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 property within the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Clark’s Canoe Camp on the Yellowstone 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 property.

The Great Falls Portage is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. It includes Sulphur Springs (open to the public) and Lower Portage Camp site (private land), and the Upper Portage Camp Overlook.

Notes[+]

Notes
↑1	For more on the captains’ strategy and various groups after leaving Travelers’ Rest, see Dividing Forces at Travelers’ Rest.
↑2	To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is omitted and some abbreviations have been spelled out.

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