The expedition follows the Travois Road climbing from present Patit Creek to the high plains. They then descend into the Tucannon Canyon and climb to the plains on the other side. The trail takes them to the fertile Pataha Creek valley where they are met by a familiar Nez Perce chief, We-ah-koomt.
North by Northeast
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
Blue Mountains from the Travois Trail
© 2 May 2009 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
More Grasslands, Less Sage
the land of the plains is much more fertile than below, less sand and covered with taller grass; very little of the aromatic shrubs appear in this part of the plain.
—Meriwether Lewis
Tucannon Canyon
View south
© 2 May 2009 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Dining at the Tucannon
about 7 we Set out proceeded on over high plains and hills. road bearing to the left from the branch. the wind blew verry high and cold Showers of hail & rain about noon we descended a hill. came on an other large creek where we halted to dine on the last of our meat.
—John Ordway
We-ah-koomt’s Welcome Party
we met with We-ark-koomt whom we have usually distinguished by the name of the bighorn Cheif from the circumstance of his always wearing a horn of that animal suspended by a cord to he left arm. he is the 1st Cheif of a large band of the Chopunnish nation. he had 10 of his young men with him. this man went down Lewis’s river by land as we decended it by water last fall quite to the Columbia and I beleive was very instrumental in procuring us a hospitable and friendly reception among the natives. he had now come a considerable distance to meet us.
—Meriwether Lewis
Pataha Creek Encampment
we encamped in small grove of cottonwood tree which in some measure broke the violence of the wind. we came 28 ms. today.
—Meriwether Lewis
Weather Diary
State of the Weather at rise
Wind at State of the Weather at 4 P.M. Wind at 4 P.M. State of the Kooskooskee cloudy after hail, rain, & snow S W cloudy after rain, hail, & snow S. W. rained last night and snowed & hailed this morning. the air cold and wind hard. the mountains to our right seem to have experienced an increase of their snow last evening.
—Meriwether Lewis[3]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented, the river columns have been merged, and some abbreviations have been spelled out.
Travois Road is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The old Nez Perce trail stretches from the mouth of the Walla Walla River to the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers. Sites include Lewis & Clark Trail State Park, The Encampment (Dayton, Washington), and Chief Timothy 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. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Allen V. Pinkham and Steven R. Evans, Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce: Strangers in the Land of the Nimiipuu (Washburn, North Dakota: Dakota Institute Press, 2013), 290. |
| ↑3 | To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented, the river columns have been merged, and some abbreviations have been spelled out. |
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).