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The Start Of The Expedition
The expedition sets off at Camp Dubois on the 14th of May, 1804. Nearly 4 dozen men were involved, but the precise number is unknown. The men traveled in a 55 foot long and 8 foot wide keel boat, capable of carrying up to 10 tons of supplies. They started up the Missouri River, this involved much paddling, usage of long poles, and sometimes wading in the water to pull these boats with cordelling ropes. -
Causality + illnes
Near what is now Sioux City, Iowa, Sergeant Charles Floyd becomes the expedition’s first casualty from what was probably a burst appendix. (Also becomes first United States soldier to die west of Mississippi.) -
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Sioux Tribe
The experience with the Sioux Tribe was not easy. The Sioux did not like people coming up the river and useally charged the people that did. The expidition has its first meeting with the Sioux on Aug 30th, 1804. This meeting is peaceful. On September 25th 1804 near what is now Pierre, South Dakota, the Sioux demand one of the boats as a toll for moving any farther upriver. A battle almost starts but is stoped by the diplomacy of a chief named Black Buffalo. -
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Fort Mandan
North from what is now Bismark, the captains decide to build Fort Mandan across the river from a large village. The village was home to some 4,500 people. Fort Mandan was considered complete on December 17 1804. Then the corps moved in. -
Baby born!
Sacagawea gives birth to a baby boy, Jean Baptiste. Lewis assists in speeding the delivery by giving her a potion made by crushing the rings of a rattlesnake’s rattle into powder. -
The Shoshone Tribe + Aid
The first formal meeting with the Shoshone tribe is where Lewis tries to negotiate for the horses he now knows are all-important to cross the daunting mountains. Sacagawea is then brought in to help translate. The expedition got tremendous help from the Shoshone Indians, and without them they would have never made it through the mountains. -
Animals needed
The expedition heads north towards the mountains with 29 horses, one mule, and a Shoshone guide called Old Toby, -
Trees into canoes
In late September a Nez Percé chief named Twisted Hair shows the explorers how to use fire to hollow out pine trees and make new canoes. -
In Idaho
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’s current at its back. -
Trade for dogs
Having raced 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. -
Terrible storm
Fierce Pacific storms, rolling waters, and high winds pin them down for nearly three weeks, “the most disagreeable time I have experienced,” according to Clark. -
Fort Clatsop
Having an entire continent between them and home, the expedition celebrates Christmas at Fort Clatsop, named for a neighboring Indian tribe. -
Blackfeet Killed
While heading back to Missouri Lewis spots eight Blackfeet Indians. They camp together warily, but on the morning of the 27th the explorers catch the Blackfeet attempting to steal their horses and guns. In the fight that follows, two Blackfeet are killed – the only act of bloodshed during the entire expedition.
