Most of the day is spent exchanging speeches, gifts, and knowledge with the Otoes and Missourias on Council Bluff at present Fort Atkinson, Nebraska. At 3 p.m., the boats travel six miles up the Missouri.
Council with the Indians
by Yellowstone Public Radio[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
Addressing the Otos and Missouris at Council Bluffs
32″ x 36″ oil on canvas
© 2009 by Charles Fritz. Used by permission.
First Council
This morning the two Captains held a Counsel With the Zottous [Otoe] Indians & made 6 Chiefs under the american government, they all Recd their medel & other presents With Great kindness & thankfulness they all appeared to be Glad that they had Got freed from all other powers &C—
—John Ordway
Indian Gifts
We gave them a Cannister of Powder and a Bottle of whiskey and delivered a few presents to the whole after giveing a Br: Cth: [breech cloth] Some Pain guartering & a Meadele to those we made Cheifs after Capt Lewis’s Shooting the air gun a feiw Shots (which astonished those nativs)
—William Clark
Place for a Trading House
Some place near Councile Bluff is arround the most proper place for a tradeing house as their are these three or four nations, the ottoes Ponies [Pawnees] & mahar [Omahas] &C.
—John Ordway
Proceeding On
We renewed our voyage at 3 o’clock; went six miles and encamped on the south side; where we had a storm of wind and rain, which lasted two hours.
—Patrick Gass
Fort Atkinson is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The Fort, the first site of a formal meeting between U.S. Government officials and a western Indian Tribe, is a National Historic Landmark open to the public as a Nebraska State Park.
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. |
|---|
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).