The expedition arrives at a bluff at present Fort Atkinson, Nebraska where they intend hold a council with the Otoe Nation. Pvt. J. Field kills a badger, and Lewis preserves it as his first zoological specimen. He also prepares a specimen of Illinois bundleflower.
A Small, Burrowing Animal
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
American Badger
Taxidea taxus
Courtesy Kari Cieszkiewic/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Council Bluff Arrival
we came to in a grove of timber and formed a Camp raised a flag Pole, and deturmind to waite for the Ottu [Otoe] Indians—
—William Clark
Pretty Place for a Town
the Timber is coffee nut white oak Black walnut Elm bass wood or lynn hickery &C— below this handsome bottom prarie, above the Timber and bluffs is a beautiful high prarie, I think it is the Smothest, & prittyset place for a Town I ever Saw.
—John Ordway
First Zoological Specimen
Jo. Fields Killed Brarow [badger] or as the Ponie [Pawnee] call it Cho car tooch, this animale burrows in the ground & feeds on Bugs and flesh principally the little Dogs of the Prarie [prairie dogs]
—William ClarkCapt. Lewis had this animal Skined the Skin Stuffed in order to Send back to St. Louis;
—John Ordway
Illinois Bundleflower
Desmanthus illinoensis
By whicky1978 who has released it to the public domain.
Lost Specimen No. 18
No. 18. was taken 30th July grows in the praries in high situations . . . . it grows about three ½ or 4 feet high
—Meriwether Lewis
Moulton identifies this lost specimen, received by John Vaughn in 1805 (see The Donation Book), as Desmanthus illinoensis, Illinois bundleflower.[2]Gary E. Moulton, ed. Journals, “Fort Mandan Miscellany”, vol 3:456, 468.
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. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Gary E. Moulton, ed. Journals, “Fort Mandan Miscellany”, vol 3:456, 468. |
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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.
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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).