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The Journey Begins
Lewis and Clark started their expedition on May 20, 1804. They took off from their St. Louis area camp, and started their journey by heading upstream on the Missouri River. They traveled on a 55 foot long keelboat and two smaller pirogues. Clark spent most of his time mapping out their route, whereas Lewis spent time on land studying new plants, rocks and animals he found. -
Beginning of Hardships with Indians
They first encountered Indians on August 2nd, the Oto and Missouri Indians. They were friendly and exchanged greetings and gifts. On August 20th, Charles Floyd became the first U.S. soldier to die west of Mississippi, most likely due to appendicitis. When met with the Sioux Indians, they did not appreciate the explorers greetings and gifts. There was a potential fight; however, both sides pulled back and there was no fight. Jefferson's hopes to have peace with the Sioux were not carried through. -
Bitter Winter
Lewis and Clark tried to travel as many miles that they could before the Missouri River froze, and they did. Shortly after the first snowfall, they arrived and planned to spend the winter at the Mandan tribe villages. They built a fort for protection against the cold and the Sioux. The winter was extremely cold, and they spent it catching up on observations, hunting buffalo and trading with the Indians. -
Journey Continues
They finally started West and ran into bears which proved more dangerous than their word. Their journey continued and hopes to reach the Rockies were finally reached when they could see it in view. They knew it would be a challenge. Although progress was slow along the bending river, which was shallow and full of jagged rocks. -
Adventures get Difficult
The explorers came up to a fort in the river and could not come up with a compromise on which way to go. Clark and Lewis split up, Lewis took 3 men south searching for the great falls. He eventually found it and was the first white man to see them. It took awhile to manage to navigate around the falls, but finally Lewis and Clark met back up on June 16th. -
Need of Horses
They finally passed the Continental Drive. They now headed to the Columbia river; however, the trek from the Missouri to the Columbia River became harder to walk on foot and they needed horses. After worrying the Indians who said they would meet up and exchange for horses wouldn’t come, they finally spotted them. They traded for the horse, but day by day they needed to trade more items. -
Bitterfoot
It started to snow again. There was not a lot of animals to hunt and their supplies were short. Finally they reached Bitterfoot Valley where they acquired more horses from a band of Flathead Indians, and dried fish and roots from the Nez Perce. They set up camp by hollowing out 5 dugouts. And eventually left camp and started down the Clearwater River. -
Reaching the Pacific
They continued down the river, going across the Snake River and down the Columbia River 6 days after that. After conquering the Cascades they reached a body of water that they thought was the Pacific Ocean. However, it was just the estuary of the Columiba. After 3 weeks of firece storms, they finally made it to the Pacific. Where they spent the winter on the coast south of Columbia. Where they built Fort Clatsop, named after the locals. -
Ready to go Home
It was time to go home by the third week of March, 1806. They obtained 5 dugouts. They left Fort Clatsop and headed up the Columbia River, where they had to avoid falls. Chinookan Indians often tried to steal their supplies. They waited in the Nez Perce territory for better weather conditions. Dried fish and roots, deer, elk, horse, or dog. -
10 feet of Snow
The winter on the way home was brutal. They began heading up into the mountains. But in Bitterroots there was 10 feet of snow, making travel extremely difficult. They resorted back to Nez Perce for help and went into the mountains with Indian help. They reached a travelers rest and Lewis and Clark split up to explore more, Lewis the Maria River and Clark for Yellowstone river. When reunited, one of clarks men accidentally shot Lewis in the leg thinking he was an elk, not a fatal wound. -
Thier Return
Lewis and Clark said goodbye to their Indian friends and Sacagawea. On August 17th they set out once again. They came across the Sioux warriors; however, they only gave them threats. They traveled 80 miles a day. On the morning of September 23, 1806, they got to the Mississippi river and arrived at St. Louis. Two years, four months and 10 days since they first left to start their journey. They were greeted with a great welcome.