Jack Nisbet
Naturalist
A brief biography and index of works on this site by naturalist Jack Nisbet.
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The Fossil Specimens
The paleontological discoveries
by Earle E. Spamer, Richard M. McCourt
On 6 August 1804, Sgt. Patrick Gass found the one fossil known to survive from the expedition today. The data were recorded by Lewis on a tag that accompanied the so-called Fort Mandan shipment, the first batch of specimens to be sent back East from Fort Mandan, in 1805.
Writing in Clover
The vocabulary of Lewis and Clark
by Arlen J. Large
The spare vocabulary of the busy journalists was spiced here and there with the clichés and colorful sayings of the time. That vocabulary itself is another valued legacy of the 1804–1806 expedition.
Wheeler on the Columbia
Fish wheels and canneries
by Barbara Fifer, Joseph A. Mussulman
At The Dalles in 1902, a hospitable local citizen helped Wheeler make his way to the brink of the long narrow channel and chasm through which Lewis and Clark took their canoes, where he “overlooked the swirling waters as they boiled and raged.”
Wheeler’s Lolo Crossing
On the Northern Nez Perce Trail
by Barbara Fifer, Joseph A. Mussulman
One of Wheeler’s most successful efforts to amplify any part of Lewis and Clark’s route was his exploration of the Lolo Trail. For that he relied heavily on Elliott Coues’ 1893 annotations to the expedition’s narrative.
Wheeler’s “Trail of Lewis and Clark”
The trail 100 years later
by Barbara Fifer
The story Wheeler wished to tell can be found in his book’s subtitle: “A story of the great exploration across the Continent in 1804-06; with a description of the old trail, based upon actual travel over it, and of the changes found a century later.”
First Accounts of the Expedition
The first published accounts
by Doug Erickson
Publications that attempted to tell the story of Lewis and Clark were being printed before Lewis and Clark had even returned from their trans-Mississippi exploration. Their popularity continued for approximately ten years after they returned to St. Louis.
Clark’s Crow Indian Speech
A speech never given
by Joseph A. Mussulman
While stinging from having so many of his horses stolen, Clark wrote a speech to the Crow Indians imploring them to return the booty. After all, he needed those horses to complete the captain’s bold diplomatic plan.
Pryor’s Mission
“You will take the horses which we have brought with us to the Mandans Village on the Missouri….you will hire a pilot to conduct you and proceed on to those establishments and deliver Mr. Heney the letter which is directed to him.”
A Bold Diplomatic Plan
The need for five separate details
by Joseph A. Mussulman
There was no Northwest Passage by water; and the portage they found took much longer than a day. The political repercussions from that alone could be immensely embarrassing to Jefferson. Something had to be done….
Stolen Horses
Crow horse culture
by Joseph A. Mussulman, Robert N. Bergantino
Pryor and six privates had successfully driven forty-one horses all the way to the Yellowstone Valley, apparently without any trouble. Then, smoke on the horizon. Twenty-four horses stolen on the twentieth. Seventeen taken on the twenty-fifth.
Hugh Heney
by Joseph A. MussulmanHeney expressed his willingness to help the Americans in dealing with the Indians—perhaps seeing this as a way of subverting the Hudson’s Bay Company’s power among the Indians in that part of the continent.
Synopsis Part 5
Fort Clatsop to St. Louis
by Harry W. Fritz
On 23 March 1806, once again battling the rising spring runoff, as it had each of the two previous years on the Missouri, the Corps of Discovery started up the Columbia River towards home.
Synopsis Part 4
Lemhi Valley to Fort Clatsop
by Harry W. Fritz
After trading for horses with Sacagawea’s people, the expedition turned north and then west, on what would indisputably be the most exhausting and debilitating segment of the entire journey, the passage across the Bitterroot Mountains.
Long Camp Observations
25 May–9 June 1806
by Robert N. Bergantino
An analysis of Lewis’s celestial observations made during their stay at Long Camp near present-day Kamiah, Idaho.
Clearwater Canoe Camp Observations
30 September–6 October 1805
by Robert N. Bergantino
Determining the latitude of a location from a meridian observation of the sun is among the simplest celestial observations to take and to calculate. On 5 October 1805, Clark writes: “Latitude of this place from the mean of two observations is 46°34’56.3″ North.”
Jefferson’s Debt Paid at Last
Introduction to "Deciphering the Celestial Data"
by Robert N. Bergantino
Lewis and Clark made celestial observations at “all remarkeable points on the rivers.” Hassler was selected to complete the longitude calculations from that data, but he never finished the job. Jefferson was not satisfied.
The Marias River Observations
2–10 June 1805
by Robert N. Bergantino
It was a clear night. The moon, just two days short of its first quarter, was 23° above the horizon bearing S78° W when the captains began their observations about 9:30 p.m.
Decision Point
Marias River decision
by Joseph A. Mussulman
The two captains “strolled out to the top of the hights in the fork of these rivers,” from which they had “an extensive and most inchanting view.”
Geology of the Breaks
The geologic entries
by John W. Jengo
As a professional geologist and a Lewis and Clark enthusiast I’m impressed by what the captains had to say about the geology of the Upper Missouri River Breaks, as suggested by the following journal excerpts and commentary.
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).