As they take the boats up the Missouri River, the expedition passes several islands and sandbars crowded with pelicans. Two of the birds are shot, and Lewis describes them in his journal. Camp is near Pelican Point south-southwest of present Blencoe, Iowa.
Too Many Snags
Set out this morning at the usial time at two miles passed a bend to L. S. Choaked up with Snags our boat run on two in turning to pass through, we got through with Safty
—William Clark
American White Pelican
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Big Hole River. © 2013 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
A Froth of Feathers
I saw a great number of feathers floating down the river . . . . they appeared in such quantities as to cover pretty generally sixty or seventy yards of the breadth of the river. for three miles after I saw those feathers continuing to run in that manner, we did not percieve from whence they came, at length we were surprised by the appearance of a flock of Pillican at rest on a large sand bar
—Meriwether Lewis
American White Pelican
One of the hunters killed a [American white] pelican on a sand bar, and Captain Lewis killed another, very large. We encamped on the north bank. In a bag under the bill and neck of the pelican, which Captain Lewis killed, we put five gallons of water.
—Patrick Gass
Blinding Mosquitoes
The Misqutors were So troublesom and Misqutors thick in the Plains that I could not Keep them out of my eyes, with a bush.
—William Clark
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).