Bethany is one of the most entertaining docents I have ever met. She makes history fun. She is an interpreter at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and Fort Mandan State Historic Site at Washburn, North Dakota.

During the winter, Lewis and Clark worked to establish good relations with the Indians, who had been dealing with English and French-Canadian traders for some time. One of these traders, Toussaint Charbonneau, persuaded the captains to hire him to accompany the Expedition as an interpreter when it left in the spring. His young pregnant wife, Sacagawea, who had been captured from her Lemhi Shoshone tribe years before by Hidatsas, was to go along as well. The captains had heard of the Shoshone, and in planning a trip over the mountains, they knew they would need to bargain with the Shoshone for horses, so having a Shoshone among the expedition would give them an advantage. Sacagawea thus became the only female member of the Expedition. She was approximately 15 years old and pregnant. Her baby, named Jean Baptiste, was born on February 11, 1805. Lewis was her attendant at birth. The labor was intense, and he administered an indian remedy of diluted rattlesnake rattle, which seemed to have worked, for within 10 minutes of administering it, she gave birth.

On more than one occasion, Clark notes that Sacagawea’s presence—with an infant in tow—disarmed potential hostility among Indians who were alarmed by the sudden visitation of more than thirty heavily armed strangers — no woman ever accompanies a war party of Indians.

And so the winter passed with hunting, trading, keeping fit, dealing with the cold, doing extensive repairs to old equipment, and doctoring the natives, who came to them for the white medicine. Lewis stayed very busy writing about his findings in the territory they had seen so far. He collected vocabulary from the two tribes, cultural information of the tribes, and artifacts, including bows, clothing, and painted robes, to be sent to Jefferson.

The members of the Expedition prepared a shipment that was to be sent back to President Jefferson. The shipment included maps, written reports, items made by Native Americans, the skins and skeletons of previously unknown animals, seeds, and cages containing a live prairie dog, a sharp-tailed grouse, and magpies. It also included sixty-eight mineral specimens, all labeled with the where and when of their collection. It included items such as “sand of the Missouri, One pine of Missouri water, pebbles common to the Missouri, lead ore, quartz, Glauber salts, alum, pyrites, lime lava, pumice stone, and fossils. The final report from Fort Mandan to Jefferson was forty-five thousand words. The report included descriptions from trappers who had traveled up the tributaries. For example, Lewis saw only the mouth of the Platte River, but he described it as far as its headwaters in the mountains, naming five major tributaries: the North Platte, South Platte, Loup, Elkhorn, and Wood Rivers.

The large keelboat and about a dozen men were dispatched downriver on April 7. The shipment was received at the President’s House in Washington four months later. That same day, 33 members of the permanent party in 2 pirogues and 6 canoes headed up the Missouri River into new lands.

Without the cumbersome keelboat, the party was able to make better time, up to 25 miles in a day. The geologic features became more impressive as they moved upstream.

As they continued up the river Lewis recorded “I ascended to the top of the cut bluff this morning, from whence I had a most delightful view of the country, the whole of which except the valley formed by the Missouri is void of timber of underbrush, exposing to the first glance of the spectator immense herds of buffalo, elk, deer, and antelopes feeding in one common and boundless pasture… walking on shore this evening I met with a buffalo calf which attached itself to me and continued to follow close at my heels until I embarked and left it.”

Of all the animals they encountered on their journey, the most prized was the American Beaver. The men of the expedition thought the beaver tail was a favorite delicacy. But Europeans valued them for hats. For more than two centuries, the best hats were made of beaver. It formed well, kept its shape, and was waterproof. The European beaver had been hunted to the brink of extinction, so beaver pelts were the most valuable export from America to Europe during this time. The expedition encountered three trappers west of the Mandans and recorded, “The beaver these people have already taken is by far the best I have ever seen.” The soldiers of the expedition also trapped along the way when they could, and two privates engaged in a fight over a large beaver that had gotten caught in two traps, so they both claimed it was theirs.

On April 25, they arrived at the Mouth of the Yellowstone River, and Clark sent Private Field up the Yellowstone with instructions to follow it as far as he could and still get back to base camp that day.

“The buffalo, elk, and antelope are so gentle that we pass near them while feeding, without appearing to excite any alarm among them, and when we attract their attention, they frequently approach us more nearly to discover what we are.”

Along the way, Sakagawea found wild licorice, Jerusalem artichoke, and she dug up some roots called the white apple. Sakagawea often furnished the men with variety in their diet, which undoubtedly contributed to their health.

Meriwether Lewis was eager to meet a Grizzly bear, and he finally got his chance.

The song in this video is Ursus Horribilis, written and sung by Dave Para and the Discovery String Band, CD available at bartonpara.com

“It was a most tremendous looking animal, and extremely hard to kill, notwithstanding he had five balls through his lungs and five others in various parts. He swam more than half the distance across the river to a sandbar, and it’s at least twenty minutes before he died.” - Meriwether Lewis, May 5, 1805

Diorama at the Lewis and Clark Boathouse and Museum at St Charles, Missouri

At the same time as the bear adventure, the white pirogue, carrying their most valuable cargo, was caught by the wind and current and nearly turned over, filling it with water. Charbonneau was at the tiller. He panicked, turned the wrong way away from the wind, and then abandoned the tiller. Cruzeatte forced Charbonneau to do his duty by threatening to shoot him instantly if he did not follow orders. Charbonneau took up the tiller, and the boat was righted. While her husband panicked and froze, Sacagawea remained calm and saved most of the precious cargo as it was being washed overboard.

Lewis: “The Indian woman to whom I ascribe equal fortitude and resolution, with any person on board at the time of the accident, caught and preserved most of the light articles which were washed overboard.”

After the bear and boat incident, Lewis records, “We thought it a proper occasion to console ourselves and cheer the spirits of our men, and accordingly took a drink of grog and gave each man a gill of spirits.”

Near the end of May, they entered into a more desolate section of the river, the Missouri Breaks. Clark called them “The deserts of America.” “I do not think it can ever be settled.” “A desert, barren country.” Lewis, more optimistically remarked, “The air of the open country is astonishingly dry as well as pure.”

In 1976, The Missouri Breaks received the “Wild and Scenic designation from Congress. As they moved farther upstream, the elevation grew steeper, and pushing their craft against the snags and current was exhausting work. “Their Labor is incredibly painful and great, yet those faithful fellows bear it without a murmur.”

White Cliffs of the Missouri River

Lewis described the White Cliffs, “With the help of a little imagination… They represent elegant ranges of lofty freestone buildings, having their parapets well stocked with statuary…I should have thought that nature had attempted here to rival the human art of masonry had I not recollected that she had first begun her work.”

On June 3 they reached the junction of two large rivers and camped at the point of it. Which one was the Missouri? The party was split in two in order to explore both rivers, and Lewis’s party ran into treacherous terrain and persistent rain and arrived back at the rendezvous two days after Clark’s. The soldiers, to a man, were convinced that the north branch was the true Missouri River, and the Captains did not agree. While the men all had strong opinions, they were willing to follow their captains anywhere, so Lewis named the North Branch the Marias River, and they proceeded up the South Branch, assuming it was the Missouri River and that it would lead them to the Great Falls. Clark stayed with the armada, and Lewis took a small group of men and proceeded overland, looking for the Great Falls to explore the portage, which the Indians had told them they could do in half a day.

On June 13, more than two months after leaving Fort Mandan, the Expedition reached the Great Falls of the Missouri River, one of the greatest natural obstacles they would face. The falls gave off a thunderous roar, which emanated from a 10-mile stretch of river that dropped more than 400 feet over five cascades.

Lewis went on ahead of the party and recorded “a roaring too tremendous to be mistaken for any cause short of the great falls of the Missouri. I arrived at about 12 o’clock, having traveled an estimated 15 miles. I hurried down the hill, which was about 200 feet high and difficult of access, to gaze on this sublimely grand spectacle.”

He wrote a very lengthy description of the falls and then did some drawings, which were lost. Disgusted with his own description, he said

“I wished for the pencil of Salvator Rosa, or the pen of Thompson, that I might be enabled to give to the enlightened world some just idea of this truly magnificent and sublimely grand object, which has from the commencement of time been concealed from the view of civilized man; but this was fruitless and vain.”

Ryan Dam at Great Falls, Montana. Today, there are five hydroelectric dams at Great Falls, Montana. One for each of the falls that Lewis and Clark had to portage.

This is where they hid the red pirogue and made their first cache, burying provisions they would need on their return journey.

The Indians had told them it would take a half day to portage the falls. They may not have understood the term portage, for this wasn’t a single portage at all. It was a series of five waterfalls connected continuously by rapids. They fashioned a carriage to transport their boats and cargo. It would be 28 days before they resumed their journey above the falls.

George Catlin

On August 27th, 1805, they reached today’s Yankton, South Dakota. They had taken on an Indian guide named Old Dorian, who informed them they were now in the territory of the Yankton Sioux, with whom he had lived for several years. Lewis set the prairie on fire as a signal, inviting them to the council. They designated Sergeant Prior to go ahead with Dorian to the Sioux villages. The two returned with seventy Indians, and Sergeant Prior gave the first description of a classic Plains teepee.

The Sioux were very friendly and treated the captains like great celebrities. At dusk, three fires were built, and the Indians danced in full regalia, showing off their weapons and singing songs of their great feats in battle and hunt. That night, the Captains were indoctrinated into life on the plains.

After hearing Lewis’s speech, the Yankton Sioux responded positively to the proposals, but all who spoke asked for gunpowder, weapons, and whiskey. All the captains could offer beyond the trinkets they had with them was to make promises for future trade, as they had a long way to go on their journey and would need all of the gunpowder and weapons they possessed.

In the first two weeks of September, the corps entered the higher-elevation short-grass prairie, where they spotted a goat that could not be identified, and they stumbled into a colony of Prairie Dogs. I will let Dave Para and Cathy Barton tell that story.

The song in the video is The Extra-Ordinary Beast by Cathy Barton and the Discovery String Band. CD available at bartonpara.com

Meriwether Lewis, in a letter to his mother from Fort Mandan, March 31, 1805;

“The immense river, so far as we have yet ascended, waters one of the fairest portions of the globe, nor do I believe that there is in the universe a similar extent of country, equally fertile, well-watered, and intersected by such a number of navigable streams. I had been led to believe that the open prairie country was barren, sterile, and sandy; but on the contrary, I found it fertile in the extreme, the soil being from one to 20 feet in depth, consisting of a fine black loam that produces a luxuriant growth of grass and other vegetables.”

This song, Through the Garden is written and sung by Bob Dyer, a member of the Discovery String Band. The photos I took as I followed the Trail of Lewis and Clark.

On August 26, private George Shannon failed to return from a hunting mission. He had become separated from his party, and upon returning to the river, was sure that the boat had left him behind. He had a horse, but only a few musket balls. He pursued the Corps of Discovery downstream for several days, ran out of ammo, and nearly starved to death. He finally sat on the bank in weakness, hoping some voyageurs would come down the river. On September 11, the bowman spotted Private Shannon on the riverbank ahead of them. Everyone was glad to see he was alive and well. Clark wrote, “A man had like to have starved to death in a land of plenty for the want of bullets or something to kill his meat.”

Pronghorn painting by Albert Bierstadt

On August 14, Clark killed one of the mysterious goats. Lewis weighed, measured, and gave the first scientific description of a pronghorn. It is commonly called the American antelope, prong buck, pronghorn antelope, and prairie antelope. It is neither a goat nor an antelope. The pronghorn’s closest living relatives are the giraffe and okapi. The pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in the Americas, with a top speed of up to 55 mph. It is the symbol of the American Society of Mammalogists.

White-tailed Jackrabbit

On the same day, private Schields brought in “A Hare of the Prairie.”

After describing the jackrabbit, Lewis went looking for himself and made these notes:

“It resorts to the open plains, is extremely fleet, and never burrows or takes shelter in the ground when pursued. I measured the leaps of one that I surprised in the plains and found them to be 21 feet. They appear to run with more ease and to bound with greater agility than any animal I ever saw.”

George Catlin

On Sept 27th, they met with the Teton Sioux, and the exchange did not go nearly as well as it did with the Yankton Sioux. They did not have an interpreter who could speak the language. Droullard’s sign language could not convey the complexities of the speech. The Teton were not impressed with the gifts offered, so Lewis began the traveling medicine show with a close-order marching drill, firing an air gun, tricks with magnets, starting a fire with a magnifying glass, and ended by handing out medals and other gifts.

They were still discontent, so Lewis invited them on board the Keelboat and gave them some whiskey. The chiefs became belligerent and demanded a canoe full of gifts. Clark drew his sword and ordered all hands to arms. The swivel gun was loaded with sixteen musket balls. The men threw up the lockers as breastworks, loaded their rifles, and prepared to fire. In the standoff, Chief Black Buffalo stepped forward and stopped the Conflict. Black Buffalo spent the night on board the keelboat and succeeded in inviting the officers to their village for a council. There, the Captains were the first American witnesses to a scalp dance, in which the dancers displayed recently acquired Omaha scalps. They stayed for two nights and were only allowed to continue their mission upstream after giving up tobacco to warriors who held fast to their bow line. Later, Lewis wrote of the Teton Sioux,

“These are the vilest miscreants of the savage race, and must ever remain the pirates of the Missouri, until such measures are pursued by our government as will make them feel a dependence on its will for their supply of merchandise.”

In October 1805, the expedition made its way through present-day northern South Dakota. It passed numerous abandoned villages of earth-lodge dwellings and cultivated fields. Some still had squash and corn growing in them. The mighty Ariakara tribe had been reduced from thirty thousand to less than six thousand. Eighteen villages were reduced to three by two waves of smallpox.

A Bull Boat on display at the Lewis and Clark Boathouse and Museum at St Charles, Missouri

The Corps of Discovery was received warmly by the Arikara tribe. Meriwether Lewis was grateful to meet Joseph Graelines, a trader who had lived with the Arikaras for thirteen years and spoke fluent English, French, Sioux, and Arikara. Clark was astonished to see the Arikaras cross the river to them in Bull Boats, single buffalo hides stretched over willow frames. The captains were both astonished that the Arikaras refused whiskey.

Clark’s slave, York, turned out to be the biggest attraction to the Arikaras. He danced and played with the children. The soldiers enjoyed the favors of the Arikara women, and one warrior invited York to his lodge, where he offered him his wife and guarded the entrance during the act. They called York “the big Medicine”. They believed they could get York’s black power through sexual intercourse. What they were all most sure to get was venereal disease, which was rampant in the villages and was passed on to the men of the expedition. The three Arikara all wished for peace with the Mandans upstream, and the officers said they would strive to make that peace happen.

As the weather grew colder on the northern plains, it was imperative that they find winter shelter where they would have food. On October 24, they were approaching the Mandan Villages north of present-day Bismarck, North Dakota. The Mandans, and their neighbors and allies, the Hidatsas, were the center of Northern Plains trade, so establishing an American trading post there would be key. It would give them access to Crows, Assiniboines, Cheyennes, Kiowas, and Arapahoes. The first Mandan villages they passed were abandoned, victims of smallpox. They landed downstream of the active villages and met Big White, the Chief of the nearest village, who extended an invitation to all five villages (3 Mandan, 2 Hidatsa) to council at the Corps campsite. Relations with all five tribes were excellent; the natives were thrilled that the soldiers would be their neighbors for the next five months.

Mandan Village by George Catlin

At the council, all the Chiefs agreed with the speech and said that they would visit their new Great Father the following spring. The Hidatsas thought the Americans were haughty with their talk of superiority. In the villages were also traders, both French Canadian and British. Lewis tolerated, but could not completely conceal his contempt for the British. The Corps completed their fort for the winter as the temperatures dropped.

George Catlin

Early on in their visit, a Sioux/Arikara war party killed a member of a Mandan hunting party and injured two others. The Arikaras had already broken their treaty. Lewis discovered that it was easy to extract promises of peace from the elderly Chiefs. The young warriors, however, needed to prove themselves in battle to become Chiefs, thereby perpetuating war as a way of life for Indian tribes across the plains and, indeed, across the continent.

Winter at the Mandan Villages. Paintings by George Catlin. The underscoring is Rakes of Mallow from “Most Perfect Harmony” Lewis and Clark: A Musical Journey by the Discovery String Band - Cathy Barton & Dave Para, Paul & Winn Grace, and Bob Dyer

North Dakota Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

https://www.nps.gov/places/lewis-and-clark-interpretive-center-north-dakota.htm

Quotes are taken from the Journals of Lewis and Clark at

https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu

And yes, I did take the liberty of correcting some spellings.

They camped on islands whenever possible to enhance nighttime security. There were daily inspections of all weapons. Lewis divided the permanent party into three squads, or “messes,” which, among other things, would cook and eat together. Each evening, the day’s provisions would be handed out and cooked immediately.

Day 1: Hominy and lard

Day 2: Salt Pork and flour

Day 3: Corn meal and pork

Drouillard and two or three companions and two horses acquired in St Charles went out to hunt every day, and the men welcomed the fresh meat supplement to their daily rations. Labiche and Cruzatte, the half-breeds from St Charles, became the bowmen, or pilots, calling out the navigational orders.

By mid June, Clark recorded the first of many health concerns. “The party is much afflicted with boils, and several have diarrhea, which I attribute to the water, which is muddy.” The next day, several men had “the disentary, and two-thirds of them had ulcers or boils, some with 8 or 10 of those tumors.” The captains urged the men to dip their cups below the surface when they went for a drink of water. They did not filter the water, and their diet lacked fruits and vegetables. In camp, ticks and gnats were bad, and mosquitoes were a constant plague. To escape them, men stood in the smoke of the fire and coated their exposed limbs, neck, and face with voyager’s grease (buffalo grease).

By June 26, they had made 400 river miles across the present state of Missouri. They set up camp at the mouth of the Kansas River.

The above video uses the song Going Up The River written by Bob Dyer, who also sings the lead vocals. He is supported by the rest of the Discovery String Band, Cathy Barton, Dave Para, and Paul and Win Grace. CD available at bartonpara.com.

Merriwether Lewis spent much time walking along the river, searching for new plants and animals to document and bring back to Jefferson and the scientists who had trained him. On the second day of the journey, he reached for a specimen on the edge of the top of the bluff and slipped, sliding down the bluff. He caught himself by jabbing his knife into the rocky ground and stopping his precipitous fall, 300 feet to a nearly certain death.

On June 21, they spotted two Pirogues with French Canadian trappers returning downstream, laden with beaver pelts. One of them was Pierre Dorion, who had known George Rogers Clark in Illinois during the Revolutionary War. He had settled down with the Yankton Sioux on the Missouri River above the Platte River. He spoke the Sioux language fluently, so Lewis and Clark persuaded Dorion to return upstream with them to the Sioux villages. They hoped that Dorion could persuade some Sioux chiefs to go to Washington to meet their new father.

June 30 Clark: “Deer to be seen in every direction and their tracks are as plentiful as hogs about a farm.” “Raspberries purple, ripe, and abundant.”

At dawn on July 4 they fired off the cannon, they named a creek Independence Creek, and Clark recorded the first of many poetic descriptions of their surroundings.

“We camped in one of the most beautiful plaines I ever saw, open and beautifully diversified with hills and valleys all presenting themselves to the river covered with grass and a few scattering trees, a handsome creek meandering through. Groups of shrubs covered with the most delicious fruit is to be seen in every direction, and nature appears to have exerted herself to beautify the scenery by the variety of flowers delicately and highly flavored raised above the grass, which strikes and perfumes the sensation, and amuses the mind.”

At sunset they again fired off the cannon, the first ever celebration of the 4th of July west of the Mississippi River.

On July 12, Private Alexander Willard was found guilty of sleeping on his post, an offense punishable by death, according to regulations. The captains tried him and found him guilty, sentencing him to 100 lashes each day for four days.

The mouth of the Platte River by George Catlin

On July 21, they reached the mouth of the Platte River. Lewis wrote a 500-word description of the river, marveling at the abundance of animal and plant life, the amount of sediment it spewed, and the speed of the current, which he measured at 8 MPH. He also made his celestial observations, which corroborated points on the map Clark made, so scientists could later verify their global positions. They recorded seeing Trumpeter Swans and caught great quantities of catfish. Private Joseph Field killed a badger. Lewis skinned and stuffed the badger to send back to Jefferson, stating, “This is a singular animal not common to any part of the United States.” While this was a species already identified, they also discovered two animals new to science: the Eastern wood rat and the plains horned toad. Still no indians, as the river tribes were all out hunting buffalo.

Grey Wolf

On July 20, Lewis discovered and described the gray wolf. He noted, “We scarcely see a gang of buffalo without observing a parcel of those faithful shepherds on their skirts in readiness to take care of the maimed and wounded.”

In late July, the explorers camped north of the mouth of the Platte River, at a site they called Council Bluff. Lewis noted in his journal that the location was good for a trading post. It was here on August 3 that Lewis and Clark had their first council with Native Americans, a small group of Oto and Missouri Indians.

As with every tribe encountered, Lewis delivered a 2,500-word speech, which was translated by an interpreter. Lewis informed the tribes that they had a new father in Washington, D.C. The new father intended to embrace them into a commercial system that would benefit all involved, and to make this happen, the new father wished them to make peace with one another. Jefferson wanted the Indians to put down their weapons and take up traps. The gifts to the Indians represented all the glorious products that they could acquire through trade. All the tribes wanted guns, but they could only demonstrate what his men could do with a Kentucky long rifle. He could only promise, not deliver, similar weapons for the Indians.

His speech began, “Children, we have been sent by the great Chief of the Seventeen great nations of America to inform you… that a great council was lately held between this great chief and your old fathers, the French and Spaniards. There it was decided that the Missouri River country now belonged to the United States, so that all those who lived in that country, whether white or red, are bound to obey the commands of their great Chief the President who is now your only great father.” He told them the French and Spanish were gone “beyond the great lake toward the rising sun, from whence they never intend returning to visit their former red children.”

In explaining their mission, he said the great chief “has sent us out to clear the road, remove every obstruction, and to make it the road of peace between himself and his red children residing there, to enquire into the Nature of their wants.” In describing the United States, he said: “In the seventeen great nations (states) of America, cities are as numerous as the stars of the heavens.”

George Catlin, Indian Chief, with Jefferson Medal presented by Lewis and Clark

It was now high season, and August 1 was Meriwether Lewis’ birthday. He ordered “A saddle of fat venison, elk fleece, and a beavertail to be cooked and a dessert of cherries, Plumbs, Raspberries, Currents, and Grapes of Superior quality.

As the men laboriously moved the keelboat upriver, Lewis was often in the cabin weighing, measuring, examining, and recording the various plants and animals. “What a field for a botanist and naturalist,” he said of the veritable paradise they were traveling through.

On August 8, the bowman alerted Lewis, who exited the cabin to see a blanket of white coming down the river. It was a sea of white feathers. They rounded a bend and found a large sandbar covered with molting white pelicans. He shot one and was astonished to report it could hold five gallons of water in its pouch.

On August 12, Lewis and Clark were the first Americans to lay eyes on a coyote.

On August 18, twelve soldiers caught 490 catfish and three hundred fish of nine other species.

Lewis studied and described the soil and minerals. He was not as good at minerals as he was at plants, and he almost died from exposure to arsenic or cobalt. Clark recorded “Captain Lewis in proving the quality of those minerals was near poisoning himself by the fumes and taste of the unknown substance.” Lewis took some of Rush’s pills to ‘work off the effects of the Arsenic.” He also found copperas and alum.

On August 19, Clark recorded in his journal: Sergt. Floyd was taken violently bad…and is dangerously ill. We attempt in vain to relieve him…. we could get nothing to stay on his stomach a moment… every man is attentive to him. Neither Clark nor Lewis could give an accurate diagnosis. As they stopped one afternoon to make him a warm bath, he expired before it was ready.

The paintings in the video are by George Catlin (1796-1872), and the live figures by the grave are at the Sioux City Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center https://siouxcitylcic.com

Two days later, the captains ordered an election for Floyd’s replacement. Private Patrick Gass was elected as the third Sergeant. This was the first election held west of the Mississippi.

Sergeant Patrick Gass Statue at Elk Point, South Dakota

On August 23, Private Joseph Field killed the first of many Buffalo. Buffalo were the quintessential animal of the North American Continent, the symbol of the Great Plains. That night, the men dined on buffalo hump, buffalo tongue, and buffalo steaks. Next to the tail of the beaver, buffalo tongue, and hump became the meat of choice for the party.

Buffalo sustained the natives, who used every part of the buffalo for food, clothing, shelter, tools, and oil.

George Catlin “Buffalo Fighting”

They proceeded upriver to Fort Kaskaskia, where the Corps of Discovery grew by eight soldiers: Sergeant John Ordway, Privates John Boley, John Collins, John Dame, Patrick Gass, Francois Labiche, Peter M. Weiser, and Joseph Whithouse.

The mouth of the Kaskaskia River, Upper Mississippi River Mile #117, or 117 miles above Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio River enters the Mississippi River.

It was late in the season, and they had already decided they would not try to ascend the Missouri in winter. On Dec 5, Lewis set out for St Louis overland with two interpreters. St Louis was a Spanish outpost. Meriwether Louis met with Carlos Dehault Delassus, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana. While the transfer of land in the Louisiana Purchase had been announced, it had not yet formally taken place, so Delassus requested that they set up their winter camp across the river in Illinois. Lewis stayed at Cahokia, directly across from St. Louis, to acquire information about the country, where the boats caught up with him on December 7.

Lewis met a Trader named Jarrot, who owned land upstream, across from the mouth of the Missouri River, and he offered to let the Corps of Discovery Make Camp there.

Recreated cabins at the Louis and Clark State Historic Site (Camp Dubois) in Hartford, Illinois.

https://campdubois.com

On December 12, the Corps arrived at Wood River (River Dubois) and immediately began setting up their winter camp. The location was a few miles above St Louis, where the men would not be distracted by the young city’s temptations. They called it Camp Dubois. William Clark trained the men through the winter. Discipline would be essential to maintaining order and ensuring the success of such an ambitious endeavor. Meriwether Lewis spent much of the winter at Cahokia, crossing to St. Louis daily to collect more information and supplies. Discipline and training were essential if the expedition was to succeed. The men of the Corps of Discovery were young, testosterone-filled men with strength and courage, willing to surmount any challenge put before them - except possibly boredom. Fighting and drinking beyond their daily rations were the two most common violations. Captain Clark dispensed immediate discipline, and the men would fall back in line. Clark somehow managed to be both authoritative and fatherly at once, and his soldiers dedicated themselves to pleasing their Captain. When the drinking got out of hand, Clark invited some local people to a morning shootout, offering up a dollar prize for the top two shots. The soldiers were hungover, and the locals showed up and bested them. Humiliation proved an effective way to motivate the soldiers to focus on their training. They later won a rematch.

The Lewis and Clark State Historic Site is the best Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center that I have visited. Watch the video, and you will see why.

On March 9, 1804, Lewis attended a ceremony in St. Louis for the transfer of the Upper Louisiana Territory to the United States. This increased the significance of their journey, as the land they would be exploring now actually belonged to the United States.

On March 31, the captains held a ceremony to enlist the 25 men they had selected to be members of “the Detachment destined for the expedition through the interior of the continent of North America.”

Three men were designated as sergeants: John Ordway, Charles Floyd, and Nathaniel Pryor. Along with the enlisted men were extra agents or hands. Another group of five soldiers was designated to accompany the expedition to its winter quarters, then to return to St Louis on the keelboat with communiqués and specimens. We think the total number of personnel that departed Camp Dubois was forty-two.

Imagine the young soldier’s anticipation every day as they looked across the Mississippi at the mouth of the Missouri River, so powerful were its currents that they drove the muddy waters three-quarters of the way across the Mississippi, the Missouri being the more powerful of the two. Every evening, they would sip their whiskey ration and watch the sun set over the mouth of the Missouri. They knew they were to conquer that wild river. It was a river of legends and unknown trials. And they were to pull, push, row, and sail tons of cargo on the keelboat, plus the loaded pirogues up a river that drops 400 feet in elevation from the mouth to the Mandan villages, where they would spend the following winter. Each and every man felt he was up to the task, even with all the unknowns.

Camp Dubois is on the Great Mississippi Flyway, the largest migratory flyway on the continent. While they still had plenty of rations, they supplemented their diet with hunting, so they had many of our migrating bird species in their sights. I put together a video so you can see some of the wildlife they saw on the shores of the Mississippi River in the winter of 1803-04. The Music is from “Most Perfect Harmony,” Lewis and Clark: A Musical Journey by the Discovery String Band. Cathy Barton and Dave Para, Paul and Win Grace, and Bob Dyer. Cathy Barton sings this song. We lost Cathy in 2018 to cancer. Cathy and Dave introduced me to river folk music. They were a treasured performing and teaching team that made a lasting impression on me and anyone else who witnessed their performances. The CD is available at https://bartonpara.com/bp/index.php/music/.

On May 14, 1804, the Lewis & Clark Expedition began its trip up the Missouri River.

Clark - “Showery day. Set out at 3 o'clock P.M. for the western expedition. One gun fired, a number of citizens see us start. The party consisted of 3 sergeants and 38 good hands…. we sailed up the Missouri 4 miles and camped on an island.”

Departure painting by Gary Lucy

Clark had been adjusting and re-adjusting the cargo, as the bow rode high and the river was full of snags, or logs, and he didn’t want the boat to ride up on the snags, so he adjusted the cargo to make the bow ride lower. The personnel in the pirogues had it somewhat easier, as their craft was lighter and more maneuverable.

As the Corps of Discovery set out under Clark’s command, Meriwether Lewis was still in St Louis, making arrangements with Captain Amos Stoddard to pay anyone who arrived there with an IOU that Lewis had signed. This would include the French boatmen next spring and anyone else the expedition might meet and hire or purchase goods from over the next two or more years.

Lewis also declared that Indians would soon be arriving in St. Louis from upriver. He intended to select the delegations and start them on their way to Washington, where they would meet their new father.

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The Ohio River was low by the time the keelboat was finished. Meriwether Lewis left Pittsburgh on August 13, 1803, with 11 recruits. With the tons of cargo Lewis had purchased, they grounded several times with the oversized keelboat. The keelboat earned its nickname, “The Barge,” early on. So along the way Lewis acquired two large rowboats with sails called pirogues — calling one the “Red Boat” and the other the “White Boat” for easy identification. The red boat was 42 feet long with seven pairs of oars, and the white boat was 38 feet long with six pairs of oars.

I came upon these Corps of Discovery replicas docked in Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 2016. They were docked above the Falls of the Ohio and across from Louisville, Kentucky, very near Clarksville, but in Jeffersonville. I know - the name-dropping never ends on the trail of Lewis and Clark - but Clarksville was named for William’s Older brother, George Rogers Clark. The replica Red Pirogue and the Keelboat are home at the Lewis and Clark Boathouse in St. Charles, Missouri. https://lewisandclarkboathouse.org

The pirogues carried excess cargo in their hatches. While they were more maneuverable than the keelboat, they were also more vulnerable to enemy aggression if they became entangled in a battle. But the problem of weight distribution had been solved, so they could make their way down the Ohio River to meet William Clark.

On October 14, 1803, Lewis and Clark were reunited at Clarksville, at the Falls of the Ohio. William Clark had with him seven recruits: Charles Floyd, His cousin Nathaniel Pryor, Reubin Field and his brother Joseph, John Shields, George Gibson, and William Bratton. Along with the two privates already on board, the group would be popularly called “the nine young men from Kentucky.”

Statue of Lewis and Clark meeting at the Falls of the Ohio State Park Interpretive Center https://fallsoftheohio.org/falls-of-the-ohio-state-park/ The statue was created by Carol (C.A.) Grende (1955-2009). The park is a fabulous place to visit, where you can explore and find fossils millions of years old.

Clark also brought his slave, York, who was raised with him by his parents. York became an essential member of the expedition. Native Americans had never seen a black man before. They found York fascinating, awesome, and inspiring.

They called him “the big Medicine,” a term signifying “that in which the power of god is manifest,” Lewis wrote. Some Native American men even asked York to sleep with their wives on the assumption “they would catch some of [his] power from such intercourse, transmitted to them through their wives.”

Statue of York at Louisville, Kentucky, by Ed Hamilton.

https://www.edhamiltonstudios.com

The savvy adventurers took advantage of the Native Americans’ admiration, sometimes sending York as their ambassador for trading negotiations, other times ordering him to dance in front of tribe members. After the expedition, York asked for his freedom, but it was denied. Ten years later, Clark finally set him free.

Let’s continue down the Ohio River with a video that takes us from where we left off at the Falls of the Ohio to the Mississippi River. The soundtrack features two of my favorite musicians of all time: Cathy Barton and Dave Para. I am blessed to have witnessed their performances on many occasions on American Cruise Lines boats on the Mississippi River. Dave is blessed with that special blend of talent, charm, wit, and wisdom. I learned a great deal from Dave and will always treasure the nights on the top deck when the discussion could go anywhere, but usually swirled around music, Mark Twain, and the river.

When Cathy Barton played her hammered dulcimer, she glowed. Her face carried the song and its meaning, as well as the joyful concentration and effort of hammering on those strings. Her aura enveloped the room along with her willingly captured audience. We didn’t just hear the music; we experienced it. This track, called She’s the Ohio, flows directly into Roustabout. I have probably listened to this CD, Living on the River, as often as any CD I own. We lost Cathy to cancer in 2019. Dave permitted me to use their music in my talks, and I am grateful. You can find their recordings at https://bartonpara.com/bp/

The Corps of Discovery was taking shape as they continued down the Ohio River. They stopped at Fort Massac, where they selected two more men for the Corps. One of them was Private John Newman; the other was George Drouillard, possibly the Corps’ MVP, for his ability to communicate in sign and his talents as a scout and hunter. Lewis usually selected Drouillard to accompany him on his many forrays into the wilderness, and he wrote this about him: “George Drulyard Interpreter—A man of much merit; he has been peculiarly useful from his knowledge of the common language of gesticulation, and his uncommon skill as a hunter and a woodsman; those several duties he performed in good faith, and with an ardor which deserves the highest commendation. It was his fate also to have encountered, on various occasions, with either Captain Clarke or myself, all of the most dangerous and trying scenes of the voyage, in which he uniformly acquitted himself with honor.”

Fort Massac at Metropolis, Illinois, on the Ohio River. https://dnr.illinois.gov/parks/park.fortmassac.html

For his service to the United States, Drouillard received $25 per month. He later lived in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, then returned to the Rockies and helped Clark fill in his map of the Northwestern United States. Drouillard died a grisly death at the hands of the Blackfeet warriors on the Jefferson River, near the Three Forks. He reportedly fought ferociously for his life, so much so that the warriors actually ingested parts of his vital organs in hopes of capturing some of his ‘Medicine.”

After traveling more than 900 miles on the Ohio River, Lewis and Clark reached the Mississippi River. On November 14, 1803, they camped at the point where the two rivers joined. They spent several days exploring and surveying the confluence area.

Mississippi-Ohio River confluence at Fort Defiance State Park in Illinois. https://dnr.illinois.gov/parks/park.fortdefiance.html

This is the point where they realized the difference between travelling downstream on the Ohio and travelling upstream on the Mississippi. Not only were they pushing tens of tons of cargo on three boats upstream, but they had to constantly cross the great river at each bend to find slack water, which was on the inside of each bend. They could pole (walk along the gunwales and push their way upriver with long poles), or they could row. And, if they had a favorable wind, they put up sail. But for many, many miles they cordelled. That meant they pulled the boat upstream by hand using ropes. The Mississippi had much more of a serpentine shape in 1803, so they encountered huge sandbars on the inside of each bend. They could walk in the shallows and pull the barge upstream around these bends. At least one man would have to use a pole to keep the keelboat pushed out into deep water, so it didn’t drag on the sand. On the first day, they made only 10 miles. They realized they would need more men if they were to ascend the fierce currents of the Missouri River.

It took four days to reach Cape Girardeau, which was 25 miles as the crow flies, but 48 miles on the serpentine river.

Early Morning Arrival to Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Cape Girardeau was founded by Louis Lorimier, a French Canadian, who had been defeated by William Clark’s older brother, George Rogers Clark. George Rogers had burned down one of his establishments, worth $20,000. So it is not surprising that William Clark stayed with the men while Meriwether Lewis went to meet Louis Lorimier.

Lorimier was a high-risk-taking, fast-talking, hard-bargaining, and ambitious frontier entrepreneur, and he had quickly recovered from his disaster. He had convinced the Spanish to give him a land grant on the west bank of the Mississippi, and was carrying on a vigorous trade at his relatively new outpost.

Meriwether Lewis meets Louis Lorimer. https://visitcape.com/capes-murals/

Lorimier was not available when they arrived, so Lewis went to meet him at a horse race, where Lewis commented on the men in attendance: “It is not extraordinary that these people should be disorderly. They are almost entirely emigrants from the frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee, and are the most desolate and abandoned even among these people; they are men of desperate fortunes, but little to lose either character or property.”

They continued their way up against the current of the Mighty Mississippi. If you are looking for an online version of the Lewis and Clark Trail to follow along more easily, I recommend the interactive map that the National Park Service has posted. Go to https://www.nps.gov/lecl/planyourvisit/maps.htm, or click on maps on the home page.

I am grateful that you are taking the time to read my Substack. I am especially thankful to my paid subscribers. As I enter into four or five months without income from American Cruise Lines, it is my paid subscribers that keep me producing quality content.

I remember Mr. Wade, my middle school and high school social studies teacher, telling us about manifest destiny. This was the pervasive feeling in American society: America was destined to spread westward across this great continent, known in Europe as The New World, and nothing could stop it except the Pacific Ocean itself. The female personification of this new America was called Columbia and was depicted in many illustrations, including the Statue of Liberty. How ironic, then, that the great river they reached on the west coast was also called the Columbia. This 1872 painting by Prussian immigrant John Gast is the perfect illustration of Manifest Destiny.

American Progress by John Gast (1872)

The landscape of 1800s America is the setting. The sun rises behind New York City, with busy commerce on the Hudson River, and the Brooklyn Bridge crossing the East Channel. Three train routes follow Lady Columbia, as she appears suspended yet moving intently westward, bringing light and progress. She drives out the terrified buffalo and native peoples, shrouded in darkness, as they look back in fear while running. With her left hand, she lays a telegraph wire. Her right hand holds a school book. Nearest her are the stagecoach and covered wagon, protected by her light, the light of Lady Liberty.

The pioneers are in the foreground. One group is already tilling the soil, and another is ahead, seeking new land to the west. A bear roars, looking backward at the oncoming settlers, the one in front bearing a rifle and eying him. To the left of the painting is the darkened western frontier of North America. She drives out herds of buffalo and Native Americans on her inevitable westward march.

Most tellings of Lewis and Clark begin with Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), our third president and principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson had no idea what lay to the west of the Mississippi River other than stories of mostly French-Canadian fur trappers. The region needed to be mapped. He wanted to know what species of plants and animals existed. For a time he believed the Wooly Mammoth may still exist in the lands west of the Mississippi River.

He needed to know which tribes of Indians occupied the lands of the Great Plains, whether they were friendly or hostile, and if trade could be established with them. Trade competition from Britain, Spain, and the French-Canadians was of great concern

.Even before he became president, he had big ideas about the western part of North America. In 1783, twenty years before the Corps of Discovery, Jefferson offered a western expedition to George Rogers Clark, coincidentally, William Clark’s older brother. George Rogers was a hero of the Revolutionary War. This offer came shortly after the peace treaty with Britain that established the Mississippi River as the western boundary of the United States. Still, that expedition never panned out.

Statue of George Rogers Clark (1752-1818) at Louisville, Kentucky, created by Ed Hamilton

https://www.edhamiltonstudios.com

One can’t be sure if the statue of George Rogers Clark is pointing across the Ohio River to Clarksville, Kentucky, which was named after him. Or he is also pointing to the Falls of the Ohio River, which were notoriously difficult to navigate, as they drop 30 feet over a two-and-a-half-mile stretch. Rapids pilots made high fees for navigating boats through the rapids. The falls are now exposed for viewing because the Corps of Engineers constructed an L-shaped dam around a fossil bed. The Falls of the Ohio State Park offers a geological look back in time. The statue of Lewis and Clark is on the lawn overlooking the Falls of the Ohio. At the visitors’ center, you are greeted by a mammoth skeleton. The walk down into the fossil beds is a wonderful adventure.

After he became president, he continued in his pursuit of the western frontier. Besides dreaming of the unknown, it would be of great benefit to the nation to find a “direct and practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce with Asia”. You see, everything still traveled by water. Inventor John Fitch had demonstrated his steamboat “Perseverance” to delegates of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but the first commercially successful steamboat would be Robert Fulton’s Clairmont, launched in 1807, after the Corps of Discovery’s great adventure. Yet even without motorized propulsion, rivers remained the most effective means of transporting people and freight. This was the age of rafts, canoes, flatboats, and keelboats. Choosing the man to lead such an expedition would be a critical decision. He eventually decided on his personal secretary, a man he knew intimately and trusted implicitly.

Meriwether Lewis Portrait by Charles Wilson Peale

Meriwether Lewis was 31 years younger than Jefferson, but he grew up just 10 miles from Monticello, Jefferson’s home. Meriwether’s father died when he was 5. At the age of 13, Lewis was sent to Virginia for schooling to learn how to manage the plantation. Meriwether was a hunter and woodsman. He would often venture out in the middle of the night in the dead of winter with only his dog to go hunting. Even at an early age, he showed an interest in natural history, which would develop into a lifelong passion. His mother taught him how to gather wild herbs for medicinal purposes. At an early age, he encountered the Cherokee and learned to communicate with them.

He joined the Virginia militia, and in 1794, he was sent as part of a detachment that helped put down the Whiskey Rebellion. He rose to the rank of captain. Thomas Jefferson, before his Inauguration, wrote to Meriwether Lewis, requesting that he become the President’s personal secretary. Lewis was released from the Army, but retained his rank of Captain. Lewis resided in the presidential mansion and frequently conversed with various prominent figures in politics, the arts, and other enlightened circles. Meriwether was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1802.

Napoleon Bonepart portrait

In the spring of 1801, Jefferson learned of the secret treaty between France and Spain. That had transferred Louisiana from Spain back to France, Jefferson was alarmed and stated, “There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three eighths of our territory must pass to market.” Jefferson knew that Napoleon Bonaparte was expanding his territories, and he did not want France to control New Orleans. In a letter, he suggested that Napoleon cede Louisiana to the United States to prevent war between the former allies. This war, Jefferson warned, would “annihilate France on the Ocean.” And he flatly declared that his government would consider any attempt to land French troops in Louisiana a cause for war. Jefferson sent James Monroe to France to join the American Minister, Robert Livingston, in an effort to purchase New Orleans. He had no idea that Napoleon was running out of cash to finance his wars and was willing to sell all of the Louisiana Territory, which included all the lands drained by the Missouri River west of the Mississippi River.

Well before the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson had confided in Meriwether Lewis his plans to explore the western territory, which was then mostly claimed by Spain. They also learned that the British had already successfully traveled overland in Canada and were making claims in the Pacific Northwest. This added urgency to the need for a military exploration up the Missouri River to discover what lay beyond the mountains and whether the fabled Northwest Passage existed.

Jefferson knew of Lewis’ familiarity with botany, as his family had purchased herbal remedies from Meriwether’s mother. He had proved himself both as a military man and a wilderness traveler. He was the right man for the job. Lewis was thrilled at the appointment and soon traveled to Philadelphia for an accelerated education from the scientists and scholars of the American Philosophical Society.

Andrew Ellicott taught Lewis map-making and surveying. Benjamin Smith Barton tutored Lewis in botany, Robert Patterson in mathematics, Caspar Wistar in anatomy and fossils, and Benjamin Rush in medicine. As soon as his tutoring was accomplished, he was eager to get to Pittsburgh, where he was having a keelboat built for the journey.

While in Philadelphia, Lewis purchased many of the items required for the journey. His shopping list included scientific instruments such as a chronometer and a sextant, an air rifle, arms and ammunition, medicines, ink and other materials for journal keeping, and an extensive array of items, including 193 pounds of portable soup, a corn mill, mosquito netting, blankets, oiled linen for making tents, candles, tools, fishing jigs, blacksmithing tools, and reference books.

Keelboat display at Lewis and Clark (Camp River Dubois) State Historic Site by Alton, Illinois

Lewis also purchased gifts for Native Americans. It was well known that in Indian cultures, gift exchange was a vital sign of friendship and allegiance. To prepare for this, he bought glass beads, mirrors, scissors, thimbles, needles, tobacco, knives, and peace medals. Through the exchange of gifts and following Jefferson’s instructions to treat the Indians “in the most friendly and conciliatory manner,” as he hoped that knowledge of them could be acquired and trade increased.

While waiting for the boat to be built, Meriwether Lewis purchased Seaman, a Newfoundland Pup. Seaman became an indispensable member of the Corps of Discovery.

Statue of Meriwether Lewis and his Newfoundland dog, Seaman, at Paducah, Kentucky, created by George Lundeen. https://lundeensculpture.com

Meriwether Lewis selected William Clark, whom he had served under in the army, as co-leader of the expedition. His letter to clark outlines all the details of the expedition before he states “if there is any thing under those circumstances, in this enterprise, which would induce you to participate with in it’s fatigues, it’s dangers and it’s honor believe me there is no man on this earth with whom I should feel equal pleasure in sharing them as with yourself: I make this communication today with the full knowledge of the President, who expresses an anxious wish that you would consent to join me in this enterprise; he has authorized me to say that in the event of your accepting this proposition he will grant you a Captain’s commission which of course will entitle you to the pay and emoluments attached to that office and will equally with myself entitle you to such portion of land as was granted to offers of similar rank for their revolutionary services”

William Clark immediately wrote back, accepting the offer and joining in the enterprise.

William Clark portrait by Charles Wilson Peale

For six weeks, Lewis was delayed in Elizabeth, Pa. (north of Pittsburgh), waiting for completion of the expedition’s 55-foot-long flagship keelboat. The boat was 8 feet wide, had 22 oars, and a mast so they could hoist sail when the wind was right.

Traditional keelboats have their cabins in the center, but this was more of a military keelboat, designed for maximum efficiency and defense. The lids of the storage compartments could be lifted to provide troops with protection from gunfire or arrows in battle. When the boat was finally finished, he and a crew of nine headed down the Ohio River to Clarksville, Indiana, by the falls of the Ohio, where he would be reunited with his past commander, William Clark.

Corps of Discovery keelboat replica on the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky https://lewisandclarkboathouse.org

The Ohio River was a busy place, with burgeoning towns along its banks, and rafts, flatboats, pirouges, canoes, and Keelboats. While rafts and flatboats were a one-way trip down the river, Keelboats were sailed, poled, oared, or pulled by rope upstream as well as down. Poling meant they stood or walked along the gunwales, stepping back and forth and poling up the river. These were the days of legendary men who moved tons of freight up the rivers, building a nation on the watery network.

Traditional Keelboat model

Now, a flat boat is just a bunch of lumber nailed and glued together, and it is a one-way trip down the river. That lumber the boat was built of would be needed downstream if they wanted to build a house on the Great Plains.

Traditional flatboat painting by Harlan Hubbard, author of the book, Shantyboat

Since Meriwether Lewis had the keelboat built in Pittsburgh, we are going to start there and make a trip downstream along the Corps of Discovery Trail. Let’s hear from a guy riding on a flat boat, and you can join me on the chorus. During this next song, you will see the route from Pittsburgh on down and learn a bit about the character of the flatboat and keelboat men. (Shawneetown video until Louisville)