June 4, 1806
Seeking guides and diplomats
Lewis fails to secure Nez Perce guides to accompany him to the Falls of the Missouri. Clark seeks Nez Perce guides to accompany him to the Yellowstone River and to parley with the Shoshones.
Red Grizzly Bear
June 2, 1806
Managing horses
At Long Camp in present-day Kamiah, Idaho, a horse corral is made, and Lewis’s horse must be shot. Ordway brings in seventeen tainted salmon, and Drouillard returns with Sergeant Floyd‘s old tomahawk.
May 27, 1806
Lewis's woodpecker
At Long Camp, Lewis begins his twelve-day treatise on natural history. Today, he describes the Columbian ground squirrel and Lewis’s woodpecker, both new to science. Sgt. Ordway and two others leave for the Snake River to buy salmon, and a Nez Perce chief says the expedition can use any of his horses for food. Young Jean Baptiste continues to improve.
May 26, 1806
A South Fork village
At Long Camp, Jean Baptiste’s abscess improves, and the canoe-builders finish their dugout. Brothers Joseph and Reubin Field return from a village on the South Fork Clearwater River with a large quantity of cous bread and root, and plans are made to trade for more. Some Nez Perce give them a horse to eat.
May 14, 1806
Establishing Long Camp
Nez Perce People help ferry the expedition’s gear, horses, and personnel across the Clearwater River at Kamiah in present Idaho. Broken Arm (Tunnachemootoolt) and Red Grizzly Bear (Xàxaac `ilpilp) show the captains how they castrate horses, and the captains give the latter a grizzly bear claw necklace.
May 13, 1806
Nez Perce manner and dress
The expedition moves a few miles from Lawyer Canyon to the Clearwater River in present Kamiah, Idaho. Lewis describes in detail the manner, appearance, dress, ornamentation, and hairstyles of the Nez Perce.
May 12, 1806
Swallowing objections
At Lawyer Creek near Kamiah, Idaho, the Nez Perce chiefs share what they heard at yesterday’s council and the People are told to swallow their objections with their mush. The captains then give a gun and ammunition to Walammottinin, Twisted Hair, as payment for watching their horses the previous winter. They also form a plan for crossing the Bitterroot Mountains.
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 site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with additional funding from the following:
