Following their Nez Perce guides, the expedition crosses to the southern side of the Clearwater Riverr and then climbs present Angel Ridge where they can see the “spurs” of the Rocky Mountains still covered in snow. They camp at “Musquetoe” Creek in Big Canyon. A Nez Perce man brings two lost lead canisters, and Lewis collects a serviceberry specimen.
Big Canyon (Mosquito Creek)
© 3 May 2009 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Above: Big Canyon comes in from the right and enters the Clearwater canyon on the left. The Rocky Mountains spurs seen by the expedition from this vantage point are obscured by storm clouds. The next morning, they climbed from Big Canyon Creek, their Mosquito Creek, likely following the long ridge in the photo’s upper half.
Crossing the Clearwater
set out early accompanyed by the brother of the twisted hair as a guide . . . . our guide recommended our passing the river . . . . we determined to pursue the rout recommended by the guide and accordingly unloaded our horses and prepared to pass the river which we effected by means of one canoe in the course of 4 hours.
—Meriwether Lewis
Two Lead Canisters Appear
[A Nez Perce man] produced us two canisters of powder which he informed us he had found by means of his dog where they had been buried in a bottom near the river some miles above, they were the same which we had buryed as we decended the river last fall. as he had kept them safe and had honesty enough to return them to us we gave him a fire steel by way of compensation.
—Meriwether Lewis
Mosquito Creek
our guide conducted us through the plain and down a steep and lengthey hill to a creek which we called Musquetoe Creek in consequence of being infested with swarms of those insects on our arrival at it.
—Meriwether Lewis
Rocky Mountain Spurs
The Spurs of the rocky Mountains which were in view from the high plain today were perfectly covered with snow. the Indians inform us that the snow is yet so deep on the mountains that we shall not be able to pass them untill the next full moon or about the first of June; others set the time at still a more distant period.
—Meriwether Lewis
Serviceberry, Weippe Prairie
Amelanchier alnifolia
© 25 May 2013 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Serviceberry Specimen
A Shrub about 6 feet high from the Kooskooskee May 7th 1806
—Meriwether Lewis[1]Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 7.
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 fair after cloudy N E fair S W the Kooskooske [Clearwater] is rising water cold and clear.
—Meriwether Lewis[2]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.
Notes
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).