Lewis's summary and recent insights
by Charles Jonkel, Joseph A. Mussulman
It wasn’t until May 1806 that Lewis had occasion to expand on his Fort Clatsop Grizzly Bear observations. This article adds recent insights and an interview with Charles Jonkel.
A pictorial essay
by Joseph A. Mussulman
By telling the story of how these photos and videos were created, the behaviors of the bighorn sheep are described.
Food of last resort
by Kenneth C. Walcheck
In the 1750s the British Navy had begun issuing 50 pounds of portable soup for every 100 sailors on long voyages, partly to vary the daily diet of salt-cured meats, and partly in the mistaken belief that it would prevent scurvy.
Charbonneau's chef d'ouvre
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Meriwether Lewis’s recitation of Charbonneau’s recipe for buffalo sausage, known as “white pudding,” serves not only as documentation of a unique frontier cuisine, but also as an example of the captain’s own brand of satire.
Reunion Bay to St. Louis
Leaving Reunion Bay, the members travel together for the first time since Travelers’ Rest. They drop off the Charbonneau family at their village and pick up Chief Sheheke and interpreter René Jusseaume. The citizens of St. Louis, having given them up for dead, provide a boisterous welcome.
15 July–11 August 1806
Clark leads a large group from Travelers’ Rest to the Beaverhead River where supplies and canoes are cached. Ordway takes the canoes to the Falls of the Missouri and Clark’s group paddles the Yellowstone in two small canoes lashed together. Pryor’s group must use bull boats after all the horses are stolen by Crows.
Trails over the mountains
After splitting up at Travelers’ Rest, Lewis took a shortcut back to the Great Falls of the Missouri and then explored the upper Marias River.
Along the Lolo Trail
With Toby as their guide, the expedition leaves Travelers’ Rest and crosses the Bitterroot Mountains following an Indian road known today as the Lolo Trail. They encounter winter conditions and suffer from a lack of food. On the other side, Nez Perces at Weippe Prairie welcome the weary travelers.
Packer Meadows to Colt Killed Creek
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Snow was falling in the high country above them on the morning of 14 September 1805 when, after striking camp two miles downstream from Packer Meadows, the Corps slogged down the Glade Creek canyon through rain and sleet.
Lemhi and Bitterroot valleys
Aided by the Lemhi Shoshone Chief Cameahwait, Sacagawea’s brother, they begin a slow process to acquire horses, move necessary equipment and supplies across Lemhi Pass, and to cache the rest. They stumble across the Lost Trail divide, buy more horses from the Flathead Salish, and proceed down the Bitterroot River to Travelers’ Rest.
Lewis and Clark usually distributed flags at councils with the chiefs and headmen of the tribes they encountered—one flag for each tribe or independent band.
Three special days
by Joseph A. Mussulman
In a compromise with its multicultural makeup, the Corps of Discovery celebrated just three special days—Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and Independence Day—and each must have been observed with a jovial mixture of traditions.
What happened to the fiddle?
by Joseph A. Mussulman
On 8 June 1806, Meriwether Lewis wrote of that evening, “we had the violin played, and [we] danced for the amusement of ourselves and the Indians.” Presumably, Pierre Cruzatte was the fiddler. It was the last mention Cruzatte’s playing the violin. Why?
Starting with its genesis in Jefferson’s Monticello, Lewis’s training and preparations in Philadelphia, and the barge’s excursion down the Ohio River, the route they took, often called the Lewis and Clark Trail, crosses the continent weaving an epic tale of western exploration treasured by many today.
Would Lewis recognize living animals, examples of which he had seen only as bones in Philadelphia? Would the hunting parties of the corps unexpectedly find herds of mastodons, and packs of stealthy predators, or a lumbering solitary grazer previously never seen by humans?
Was it suicide or murder?
by Clay S. Jenkinson
Lewis was about to journey to Washington to face his accusers. He only made it as far as Grinder’s Stand. But did he commit suicide or was he murdered?
A late start
by James J. Holmberg
Even though Lewis himself declared the mouth of the River Dubois to be the expedition’s official point of departure, the two and one-half months spent descending the Ohio River were in fact its real beginning.
Lay out of the nightly camps
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Spacing between tents, as well as lines of tents, was strictly measured. Privates’ tents, accommodating 6 men each, were between the sergeants’ tents; all were two feet apart. The “sink,” or latrine, was to be 60 paces (300 feet) in front of the first line of tents.
22 December 1804–3 April 1805
by Robert N. Bergantino
In January 1798, Thompson took celestial observations at the villages and determined them to be at a latitude of 47°17’22″N and a longitude of 101°14’24″W. Why then did Lewis and Clark think it necessary to take twenty-six observations?
Filling in the blank
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Islands had hidden it from view on the westbound trip, but early on 2 April 1806 some Indians visiting their camp happened to mention it. Clark picked six of his soldiers, hired an Indian guide, and went back to see it.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
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).