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The Expedition Begins
The expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and Willian Clark along with four dozen men set off from Camp Dubois in St. Louis. They traveled in a big keelboat capable of holding up to 10 tons of supplies. They proceeded up the Missouri River by rowing, using setting poles, and sailing. -
Peaceful Trade with the Indians
The Corps of Discovery met with the Oto and Missouri Indians.They were friendly and the explorers showed off all of thier wonderful tecnology: compasses,magnets, telescopes, and Lewis’s air gun. The Indians offered peace medals and many gifts.They promised each other peace and prosperity. -
First Causality
One of the explorers named Charles Floyd became very ill with a burst appendix. He sadly did not recover. Floyd was the first and only explorer to die on the expedition. He was buried on a hill they named Floyd's Bluff. They also named a stream Floyd's River in his honor. -
The Sioux Tribe
Near what is now Yankton, South Dakota, the explorers met a indian tribe called the Sioux. Many had never seen white men before, and they held a friendly meeting with them. It is said that Lewis wraped a newborn baby boy in the U.S. flag and declared him ''an American". -
Fort Mandan
The Corps of Discovery decided to build Fort Mandan near the villages of the Mandans and Hidatsas. While thhey were building the fort, Lewis and Clark met Toussaint Charbonneau, a fur trader living among the Hidatsas and worked as an interpreter with his Shoshone wife, Sacagawea.They decide to hire Charbonneau and Sacagawea because they thought they would be able to help and guide the explorers once they reach the mountains. -
Trouble with Snow
The heavy snow caused the explorers many hardships.Clark recorded in his journal that the temperature was 45 degrees below zero! It caused many to become frostbiten, and it was difficult to find buffalo to hunt. The weather forced them to stay the winter at Fort Mandan. -
Frostbite Strikes!
The Explorers suffered a very cold winter. Many explorers suffered frostbite and many indians did also due to the fact that they had gone buffalo hunting. An indian boy suffered from such severe frostbite that Lewis had to amputate his toes without anesthesia or a surgical saw. OUCH! -
A Baby Boy!!
Sacagawea was pregnant and went into labor on the expedition. Lewis helped in the delivery by making a potion by pulverizing the rings of a rattlesnake's rattle and giving it to her. The baby was a boy and was named Jean Baptiste. -
Grizzly Bears!
The explorers had problems with the bears they encountered. Lexis and another man killed a huge grizzly, but many continued to chase them across the plains. The bears were very difficut to kill. Lewis wrote ''curiosity of our party is pretty well satisfied with the respect to this animal.'' -
The Shoshone Tribe
Lewis knew they would need horses to cross the mountains, so when he saw a Shosshone village. he was hoping they could trade with the tribe. Sacagawea came along to help translate. Remarkably, the cheif of the tribe was her brother, and they acquired 29 horses and hired a Shoshone guide named Old Toby. The Explorers named the place Camp Fortunate. -
Help from the Nez Perce
After almost starving, the explorers are befriended by the Nez Perce tribe. The tribe fed them salmon and camas roots untill they were full.A friendly indian named Twisted Hair showed them how to to make canoes by using fire to hollow out pine trees. -
Help from the Trees
The trees helped Lewis, Clark, and all of the explorers to survive the journey. They used the pine trees to make new canoes. Without these canoes, they cound not have sailed down the rivers to the ocean. Another way the trees helped them was when the explorers ran out of tabacco, the bark of a crab tree was used as a tobacco subsitute. -
Discovery in Idaho
The explorers discovered the Snake River just below Shoshone Falls. Many Native Americans lived along the Snake River and the Shoshone Indians had made a sign that was supposed to look like a fish, but the explorers mistook it as a snake and named the river, the Snake River. -
The Celebration at Fort Clatsop
The explorers decided to vote on where to spend the the winter,and it was decided that they would settle near modern-day Astoria, Oregon. After building Fort Clatsop,which was named after an Indian tribe, the explorers celebrate Christmas in thier new headquarters.The celebrated by handing out the rest of thier tobacco supply and handkerchiefs. -
Confrontation with the Blackfeet Warriors
The explorers became very causious after crossing the Misouri River and seeing eight Blackfeet warriors.They camped and became very weary of the Indians. In the morning a fight broke out because the men had caught the warriors trying to steal thier guns and horses. During the fighting, two warriors were killed. This was the only bloodshed that occurred during the entire expedition.
