The narrowing Missouri river challenges the paddlers and rowers who must navigate its many bends and hazards. Progress is good, and they encamp near present Onawa, Iowa, 75 miles closer to home.
In Nachitoches, a Caddo delegation is received by territorial governor of Orleans, William C.C. Claiborne.
Racing Downstream
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
Challenging River
The Musquetors being So excessively tormenting that the party was all on board and we Set out at day light and proceeded on very well. here the river is bordered on both [sides?] with timber &c becoms much narrower more Crooked and the Current more rapid and Crouded with Snags or Sawyers than it is above, and continus So all day.
—William Clark
Omaha Gardens
the report of the guns which was heard must have been the Mahars [Omahas] who most probably have just arrived at their village from hunting the buffalow. this is a Season they usialy return to their village to Secure their Crops of Corn Beens punkins &c &c.
—William Clark
Blue Lake Camp
Encamped on the S W Side on a Sand bar at a cut off a little below our Encampment of the 9th of August 1804. haveing made 73 Miles to day— Capt. Lewis still in a Convelesent State.
—William Clark
Weather Diary
State of the weather at Sun rise Course of the wind at Sun rise State of the weather at 4 oClock Course of wind at 4 P. M fair S E cloudy S W —William Clark[2]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented and some abbreviations have been spelled out.
A Caddo Delegation
In Nachitoches, Louisiana, The grand Chief of the Caddos, Dehahuit, and his delegation receive a diplomatic speech from the Territorial Governor, William Claiborne.
Grand Chief of the Caddo Nation.
Friend and Brother!
Brother! We have some dispute about the limits of Louisiana; the Americans suppose that the limits extend far towards the setting sun, but our neighbors, the Spaniards, tell us, that a little dry bayou, which you passed yesterday, is the line.
Brother! You know we got the country from the French, and that the Americans now claim all the land which the French formerly possessed.
You are an older man, brother, than I am, and must know something of the matter; You have seen the places where the French built forts and planted corn . . . .
Wm. C. C. Claiborne
After smoking the pipe, Dehahuit replied, in part:
. . . what I have this day heard will cause me to sleep more in peace.
. . . . .
If your nation has purchased what the French formerly possessed, you have purchased the country that we occupy, and we regard you in the same light as we did them.[3]Copy of Claiborne’s speech and Dehahuit’s reply in Dunbar Rowland, Official Letter Books of W. C. C. Claiborne, 1801–1816 (Jackson, Mississippi: State Department of Archives and … Continue reading
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 | To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented and some abbreviations have been spelled out. |
| ↑3 | Copy of Claiborne’s speech and Dehahuit’s reply in Dunbar Rowland, Official Letter Books of W. C. C. Claiborne, 1801–1816 (Jackson, Mississippi: State Department of Archives and History, 1917), 4:2–4. |
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).