Bison Encounters
Bison in the journals
A synopsis of the Expedition’s encounters with the American Bison including 17 key journal entries and commentary.
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Frederick Pursh
Cataloger of expedition plants
by James L. Reveal
During the winter of 1807-1808, Pursh lived at the home of Bernard McMahon in Philadelphia. Here he worked on the drawings and descriptions of Lewis’s western plants.
The Bears Tooth
Key landmark on the Old North Trail
by Joseph A. Mussulman
The Bears Tooth was an important landmark on the the ancient Indian road that has come to be known as the Old North Trail. It was included on Nicholas King’s 1804 map, and the captains expected to find it.
Tower Rock
First Gate of the Rocky Mountains
by Joseph A. Mussulman, Robert N. Bergantino
“at this place there is a large rock of 400 feet high wich stands immediately in the gap which the missouri makes on it’s passage from the mountains.”
Three Pests and a Yoke
Lewis's literary metaphor
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Lewis displays his talent for seeing the world metaphorically. Perhaps he wrote this vignette as he slapped at mosquitoes, waved off gnats, or plucked barbed spines from his feet.
Finding the Yellowstone
by Joseph A. Mussulman, Rick Newby
As he started over the mountains at today’s Bozeman they observed several Indian and buffalo roads heading northeast across the mountains. Clark reported, “the indian woman who has been of great Service to me as a pilot through this Country recommends a gap.”
Big Hole to Three Forks
Sacagawea points to home
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Sacagawea informed Clark that “she had been in this plain frequently and knew it well,” that the creek they were following was a branch of the Big Hole River, and that “when we assended the higher part of the plain we would discover a gap in the mountains”
Three Forks of the Missouri
Essential geographic point
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Lewis and his canoes slowly approached the forks, “the current still so rapid that the men are in a continual state of their utmost exertion to get on, and they begin to weaken fast from this continual state of violent exertion.” He described the “extensive and beatifull plains and meadows.”
Prickly Pears
One of nature's greatest pests
by Joseph A. Mussulman
“The prickly pear is now in full blume,” he wrote on a mild early-summer day in 1805, “and forms one of the beauties as well as the greatest pests of the plains.”
Square Butte
Lewis's Fort Mountain
by Joseph A. Mussulman
“This mountain has a singular appearance. it is situated in a level plain, it’s sides stand nearly at right angles with each other and are each about a mile in extent … from it’s figure we gave it the name of fort mountain.”
Unaccountable ‘Artillery’ of the Rockies
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Near the Great Falls, Lewis describes loud noises “resembling precisely the discharge of a piece of ordinance of 6 pounds at the distance of three miles.” Thunder didn’t seem likely as “It was perfectly calm, clear, and not a cloud to be seen.”
Eye Gnats
Hippelates sp.
by Joseph A. Mussulman
On 11 July 1805 while making canoes above the Falls of the Missouri, Clark wrote “Musquitors verry troublesom, and in addition to their torments we have a Small Knat, which is as disagreeable.”
Formal Navigation
by John Logan Allen
Much of what Lewis and Clark had to do in terms of their own mapmaking was to ascertain the accuracy of Indian information by doing what we call today “ground truthing” and “celestial reckoning” using the instruments they carried.
Wilderness Medicine
An interview with Dr. Peck
by David J. Peck
An interview with David Peck, practicing physician and the author of Or Perish in the Attempt: Wilderness Medicine in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The Nez Perces
by Kristopher K. Townsend
First encountered September 1805 when John Colter met them on Lolo Creek near Travelers’ Rest, they would remain with the expedition in one way or another until 25 October 1805 saying their goodbyes at Rock Fort at The Dalles of the Columbia River. They were together again between 23 April 1806 and 4 July 1806, the expedition’s longest period of contact with any Native American Nation.
The Deschutes River
by Barbara Fifer
The fall salmon run was ending when the Corps arrived at the Great Falls of the Columbia, several miles below the mouth of Towarnehiooks, with some native people still at the river, fishing with gigs and nets and processing their salmon harvest.
Horse Chronicles
Horses on the Expedition
by Robert R. Hunt
The expedition left horse tracks of at least four to five hundred miles on a westward lineal course, plus at least a thousand miles easterly, widely scattered over strikingly varied terrain. The Corps of Discovery had become, in effect, a kind of cavalry unit.
How Flintlocks Work
With illustrations, narrations, and videos
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Though text, animations, and narrated video, this page provides a thorough explanation showing how a flintlock works, best practices in the field, and instructions to load and fire.
Lost Hunters
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Every hunter, after following the land instead of the river, had to somehow end his day within sight or sound of the party’s camp at a location which no one could have known in advance. They were not always successful.
John Colter
(ca. 1775–1812), Private
by Barbara Fifer, Joseph A. Mussulman
Colter left a legacy of western lore, not the least of which was his famous run from the Blackfeet Indians and his exploration of “Colter’s Hell.” Yet his contributions to the expedition were also many.
This page was funded in part by a grant from the National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Program.
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).