After describing northern shovelers and the Nez Perce methods of feeding on foods from the ponderosa pine, the expedition climbs to the Camas plains high above the Clearwater River. Twisted Hair and Cutnose argue about the expedition’s horses that were left in their care the previous winter, and Lewis adds the glacier lily to his plant collection.
Everybody’s Hungry
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
Culturally Modified Tree
© Gene Eastman. Used by permission.
Ponderosa Pine Nuts
Pinus ponderosa
© 2011 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Hunting Report
Drewyer and Cruzatte brought each a deer, Collins wounded another which my dogs caught at a little distance from the camp. our stock of provision now consisted of 4 deer and the remnant of the horse which we killed at Colter‘s Creek.
—Meriwether Lewis
Northern Shoveler
Sheilds killed a duck of an uncommon kind. the head beak and wing of which I preserved. the beak is remarkably wide and obtusely pointed, on it’s edges it is furnished with a sceries of teeth very long and fine not unlike the teeth of a comb.
—Meriwether Lewis
Ponderosa Pine Foods
we are informed that the natives [Nez Perces] in this quarter were much distressed for food in the course of the last winter; they were compelled to collect the moss which grows on the pine which they boiled and eat; near this camp I observed many pine trees which appear to have been cut down about that season which they inform us was done in order to collect the seed of the longleafed pine which in those moments of distress also furnishes an article of food; the seed of this speceis of pine is about the size and much the shape of the seed of the large sunflower; they are nutricious and not unpleasent when roasted or boiled, during this month the natives also peal this pine and eat the succulent or inner bark.
—Meriwether Lewis
Twisted Hair and Cutnose Argue
the road led us up a steep and high hill to a high and level plain mostly untimbered . . . . when we met the Twisted hair and a party of six men. to this Cheif we had confided the care of our horses and a part of our saddles when we decended the river last fall. the Twisted hair received us very coolly an occurrence as unexpected as it was unaccountable to us . . . . we readily discovered that a violet quarrel had taken place between these Cheifs but at that instant knew not the cause; we afterwards learnt that it was on the subject of our horses.
—Meriwether Lewis
Twisted Hair’s Plan
The Twisted hair said if we would spend the day tomorrow at his lodge which was a few miles only from hence and on the road leading to the Broken arm’s lodge, he would collect such of our horses as were near this place and our saddles, that he would also send some young men over the Kooskooske to collect those in the forks and bring them to the lodge of the broken Arm to met us.
—Meriwether Lewis
Glacier Lily
Erythronium grandiflorum
Location: Camas Prairie near Nezperce, Idaho, 3 May 2009. © by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Glacier Lily Specimen
From the plains of the Columbia near Kooskooskee R. May 8th 1806. the natives reckon this root as unfitt for food.
—Meriwether Lewis[2]Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 65.
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 S W fair S W —Meriwether Lewis[3]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
| ↑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 | Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 65. |
| ↑3 | 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. |
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).