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The establishment of Camp Wood (close to St. Louis, Missouri)
The expedition establishes Camp Wood( also called Camp Dubois) close to St Louis, Missouri. More men are trained and recruited. -
Lousiania Territory transfer from Camp Wood.
Before the expedition began to set out from Camp Wood, Lewis and Clark attend ceremonies in St. Louis, formally transferred Lousiania Territory from France to United States. -
The Lewis and Clark Expedition setts off.
Lewis and Clark and the expedition set out from Camp Wood. -
La Charette
The Expedetion passes La Charette, a cluster of seven dwellings less than 60 miles up the Missouri. -
The first official council between representatives of United States and western Indians.
First official council between representatives of United States and western Indians occurs north of present-day Omaha, when Corps of Discovery meets with small delegation of Oto and Missouri Indians. -
The expedition's first casualty.
Near what is now Sioux City, Ohio, Sergeant Charles Floyd become the expedition's first casualty from what was probably a burst appendix. He was also the first United States soldier to die west of Mississippi. -
The Expedition's council with the Yankton Sioux Indians.
The expedition holds friendly council with Yankton Sioux. According to Yankton oral tradition, when a baby is born, Lewis wraps him in an American flag and declares him an American. -
New animals for the Expedition
Moving into the Great Plains, the expedition begans seeing animals unknown in the East: coyotes, antelope, mule deer, and others. On this particular day, all the men are employed in drowning a praire dog out of its hole for shipment back to Jefferson. -
An Indian conflict almost rises up
Near what is now Pierre, South Dakota, the Teton Sioux demands one of the boats as a toll for moving farther upriver. A fight nearly ensues, but is defused by the diplomacy of a chief named Black Buffalo. For three more days, the expedition stays with the tribe. -
Fort Mandan
North of what is now Bismark, North Dakota, the Corps of Discovery reaches the earth-lodge villages of the Mandans and Hidatsas. The captains decide to build Fort Mandan across the river from the main village. -
Toussaint Charbonneau
The captains hire Toussaint Charnonneau, a French Canadian fur trader living among the Hidatsas, as an interpreter. His young Shoshone wife, Sacagawea, had been captured by the Hidatsas several years earlier and then sold to Charbonneau. Having been told that the Shoshones live ar the headwaters of the Missouri and have many horses, the captains believed that the two will be helpful when the expedition reaches the mountains. -
Fort Mandan is completed
On Christmas Eve, Fort Mandan was completed and the expedition had moved in for the winter. -
Frostbite Problem for the Expedition.
The Mandans perform their sacred "buffalo calling" ceremony and a few days later, a herd shows up. The Indians and explorers hunt buffalo together. Several expedition members get frostbite. -
Sacagwea gives birth.
Sacagewea gives birth to a baby boy and names him Jean Baptiste, -
Moving downriver
Lewis and Clark dispatch the big keelboat and roughly a dozen men back downriver, along with maps, reports, Indian artifacts, and boxes of scientific specimens for Jefferson. The same day, the "permanent party" heads west, traveling in the two pirogues and six smaller dugout canoes. The expedition total is 33 now, including Charbonneau, Sacagwea, and her baby boy. -
"Bird Woman's River"
The captains name a river "Sah-cah-ga-we-a, or bird woman's River, after our interpretor the Shoshone woman." As the captains name new territory, they eventually give the names of every expedition member to some landmark. -
The Judith River
Clark comes across a river and names it the Judith River in honor of a young girl back in Virginia he hopes that one day will marry him. -
The Expedition enters into the White Cliffs of Missouri
The Corps of Discovery enters what are now called the White Cliffs of the Missouri-remarkable sandstone formations that the men compare to the ruins of an ancient city. -
The Expedition's Captains name the Three Forks of the Missouri.
The expedition reaches the Three Forks of the Missouri, which the captains named the "Gallatin", "the Madison", and "the Jefferson." -
Beaverhead Rock
Sacagawea recognizes another landmark-Beaverhead Rock, north of present day Dillon, Montana-and says they are nearing the river's headwaters and home of her people, the Shoshones. Desperate to find the Indians and their horses, Lewis decides to scout ahead with three men. -
Lewis comes across a single, mounted Indian.
Lewis comes across a single, mounted Indian-the first the expedition had seen since leaving Fort Mandan-and tries to signal his friendly intentions, but the Indian rides off. -
The Fort Mandan shipment arrives in the East.
The shipement sent from Fort Mandan, finally arrives in the East. -
Lewis askes for horses from Shoshone Indians.
Lewis discovers a village of Shoshones and tries to negotiate for the horses he now knows are all important to cross the daughting mountains. -
The expedition gets horses and Indian help.
With 29 horses, one mule, and a Shoshone guide called Old Toby, the expedition setts off overland. They head north over a m ountain pass into the valley of a beautiful river, now called Bitterroot. -
Preparing for the mountain crossing
The camp south of present day-Missoula, Montana, at a spot the captains call Travelers Rest, preparing for the mountain crossing. -
Bitterroots mountains, starvation, then Weippe, Idaho
The Corps of Discovery ascends into the Bitterroot Mountains, which Sergeant Patrick Gass calls: "the most terrible mountains I ever beheld." Old Toby loses the trail in the steep and heavily wooded mountains. They run short of provisions and snow begans to fall. 11 days later, on the brink of starvation, the entire expedition staggers out of Bitterroots near modern-day Weippe, Idaho. -
Moving into the Clearwater River.
Near what is now Orofino, Idaho, the expedition pushes its five new canoes into the Clearwater River, and for the first time since leaving St. Louis has a river current at its back. -
The Expedition enters into the Columbia River
After the expedition had been riding down the Clearwater River, then the Snake Rivers, they reach the Columbia River. -
The Expediton enters the Columbia River.
Having reached down the Clearwater, then the Snake rivers, they reach the Columbia. The river teems with salmon-Clark estimates 10,000 pounds of salmon drying in one village-but the men want meat to eat, so they buy dogs from the Indians. -
The Expedition finally reaches the ocean.
Clark sees Mount Hood in the distance, it is a fixed point on the expedition's map, proof that they are at last reaching the ocean. Soon they pass through the falls of the Columbia into the Gorge, emerging from the arid semi-deserts of Eastern Washington and Oregon into the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. -
The Expedition's vote for where to get winter shelter.
The expedition holds a vote for where to stay for the winter. The majority decides to cross to the south side of the Columbia river, ro build winter quarters. -
The Expedition's Christmas celebration in their new winter quaters.
An entire continent between them and home, the expedition celebrates Christmas in its new quaters, Fort Clatsop, named for a neighboring Indian tribe. -
.The Expedition runs out of whiskey and tobacco.
Having previously run out of whiskey, the expedition now runs out of tobacco. -
The Expedition setts off for home.
Fort Clatsop is presented to the Clatsops, and the expedition setts off for home. -
The Expedition arrives back with Nez Perce Indians.
The expedition arrives back with the Nez Perce but have to wait for the snows to melt on the Bitterroots before trying to cross them, They play a game of "base" with the Indians and the Indians provide the expedition with food.
