Day-by-Day / August 25, 1804

August 25, 1804

Visiting Spirit Mound

Spirit Mound, SD The captains take a large party to explore Spirit Mound. Instead of finding devils, they suffer from excessive heat and witness birds eating swarms of flying ants.

Spirit Mound

Brown, autumn grasses and plants before a small, conical hill

Photo © 2008 by Arthur Digbee, used with permission.

The Spirit Mound[1]Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © … Continue reading

Setting Out

This morning Capt Lewis & my Self G D. Sjt. Ouderway Shields J. Fields colter Bratten Cane Labeeche corp Wovington Frasure & York Set out to Visit this mountain of evel Spirits,
—William Clark

For a complete account of this excursion, see Spirit Mound.

Seaman Overheats

our Dog [Seaman] was So Heeted & fatigued we was obliged Send him back to the Creek
—William Clark

Great Thirst

at 12 oClock we arrived at the hill Capt Lewis much fatigued from heat the day it being verry hot & he being in a debilitated State from the Precautions he was obliged to take to provent the affects of the Cobalt, & Minl. Substance which had like to have poisoned him two days ago, his want of water, and Several of the men complaining of Great thirst
—William Clark

Related: Spirit Mound by Air

York Exhausted

my Servent [York] nearly exosted with heat thurst and fatigue, he being fat and un accustomed to walk as fast as I went was the Cause—
—William Clark

Related: Clark, York, and Slavery

Flying Ants

we Saw a great flock of Birds flying about the top of it we ascended the hill found none of the little people ther we Saw Several holes in the ground. Some Stone piss ants &.C.
—John Ordway

For the “piss ant,” see “Birds and Pissants” in Spirit Mound.

 

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant

Cleome serrulata

Bee buzzing around purple petals

Location: Clark’s Lookout, Dillon, Montana. © 12 July 2013 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant

No. 43. August 25th growth of the open Praries
—Meriwether Lewis[2]Moulton, Herbarium, specimen 49.

Related: Lewis’s Plant Collection | Lewis as Botanist | Plants of the Expedition

 
logo: Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail logo: National Park Service

Spirit Mound 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 open to the public and maintained by South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks.

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © 2003 by Yellowstone Public Radio.
↑2 Moulton, Herbarium, specimen 49.

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
Logo: Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:

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).