Clark and his group cross the Rocky Mountains on an Indian road—today’s Gibbons Pass. Sacagawea remembers the Big Hole Valley and tells Clark of a pass leading to the dugouts cached at Fortunate Camp.
Lewis and his group continue on the Road to the Buffalo nearly reaching the Continental Divide. They cross a “prairie of the knobs” before camping near Lincoln, Montana.[1]For more on the captains’ strategy and various groups after leaving Travelers’ Rest, see Dividing Forces at Travelers’ Rest.
Sacagawea Familiar With the Country
by Yellowstone Public Radio[2]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
Clark: On the Indian Road
Beaver Dam on Trail Creek
© 26 July 2011 July by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Above: the Indian road over Gibbons Pass enters unseen from the right. Clark’s Glade Creek, today’s Trail Creek, still provides prime habitat for beaver.
Over Gibbons Pass
left the road which we came on last fall to our right and assended a ridge with a gentle Slope to the dividing mountain which Seperates the waters . . . . I observe the appearance of old buffalow roads and some heads on this part of the mountain.
—William Clark
Trail (Glade) Creek
on each Side of this handsom glades in which I observe great quantities of quawmash [camas] just beginning to blume on each side of those glades the timber is small and a great propotion of it Killed by the fires
—William Clark
Big Hole Valley
we assended a Small rise and beheld an open boutifull Leavel Vally or plain of about 20 Miles wide and near 60 long extending N & S. in every direction around which I could see high points of Mountains Covered with Snow. I discovered one at a distance very high covered with Snow which bore S. 80° E.
—William Clark
Sacagawea Points the Way
entered an extensive open Leavel plain in which the Indian trail Scattered in Such a manner that we Could not pursue it. the Indian woman wife to Shabono [Sacagawea] informed me that she had been in this plain frequently and knew it well that the Creek which we decended was a branch of Wisdom river and when we assended the higher part of the plain we would discover a gap in the mountains in our direction to the Canoes
—William Clark
Lewis: Through the Knobs
Prairie of the Knobs
East 14 M. to the point at which the river leaves the extensive plains and enters the mountains these plains I called the prarie of the knobs from a number of knobs being irregularly scattered through it.
—Meriwether Lewis
Through a Beautiful Plain
through a beatifull plain on the border of which we passed the remains of 32 old lodges. they appear to be those of the Minnetares [Atsinas] as are all those we have seen today. killed five deer and a beaver today. encamped on the creek much sign of beaver in this extensive bottom
—Meriwether Lewis
Antelope Bitterbrush
Purshia Tridentata
The Dalles, Oregon, 4 June 2011. © by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Above: This plant is named to honor Frederick Pursh.
Lewis Botanizes
saw the common small blue flag and peppergrass. the southern wood and two other species of shrub are common in the prarie of knobs. preserved specemines of them.
—Meriwether Lewis
Weather Diaries
State of the weather at rise
Wind at State of the weather at 4 P. M. Wind at 4 P. M. fair N E fair S W the last night cold with a very heavy dew.
—Meriwether Lewis
State of the weather at Sun rise Wind at Sun rise State of the weather at 4 P. M Wind at 4 P M. fair S W. cloudy after rain, thunder, & lightning S W cold night with frost. I slept cold under 2 blankets on head of Clarks river. I arived in an open plain in the middle of which a violent Wind from the N W. accompanied with hard rain which lasted from 4 untill half past 5 P. M. quawmash in those plains at the head of wisdom River is just begining to blume and the grass is about 6 inches high.
—William Clark[3]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is omitted and some abbreviations have been spelled out.
Gibbons Pass is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The route can be traveled in the Bitterroot National Forest on Forest Road 106.
Notes
| ↑1 | For more on the captains’ strategy and various groups after leaving Travelers’ Rest, see Dividing Forces at Travelers’ Rest. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | 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. |
| ↑3 | To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is omitted 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
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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
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- 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).