Day-by-Day / May 22, 1804

May 22, 1804

Trading with Kickapoo hunters

After a very rainy night, the expedition sets out at 6 am. They camp near the mouth of the Femme Osage River in present-day St. Charles County, Missouri having made 18 miles. They give two quarts of whiskey to some Kickapoo hunters for four deer, and Lewis collects a plant specimen that was later received in Philadelphia, but subsequently lost.

Kickapoo Hunters

Those [Kickapoo] Indians told me Several days ago that they would Come on & hunt and by the time I got to their Camp they would have Some Provisions for us, we Camped in a Bend at the Mo: of a Small creek, Soon after we came too the Indians arrived with 4 Deer as a Present, for which we gave them two qts. of whiskey—
—William Clark

Lost Specimen No. 2

No. 2. was taken on the 22ed of May 1804 on the bank of the Missouri about 8 miles above St. Charles it is common in the botom lands— rises to the hight of two feet, and rarely puts forth more than two stalks from the same root and most commonly only one— it’s root is spiral.
—Meriwether Lewis

This specimen, received by John Vaughn in 1805 (see The Donation Book), cannot be identified.[1]Gary E. Moulton, ed. Journals, “Fort Mandan Miscellany”, vol 3:451, 466.

 

Notes

Notes
1 Gary E. Moulton, ed. Journals, “Fort Mandan Miscellany”, vol 3:451, 466.

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.