-
.
The Expedition sets off on its voyage up Missouri
River in the big keelboat and two smaller pirogues. -
.
Lewis and Clark hold their first council with Indians. They
meet with a group of Oto and Missouri chiefs near present-day Council Bluffs, Iowa. They hand out peace medals
and other gifts, and Lewis delivers a speech. -
.
Sergeant Charles Floyd, a member of the Expedition,
suffers from a burst appendix and dies. He is buried near
present-day Sioux City, Iowa. -
.
The Expedition arrives at the earth-lodge villages of the
Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, near present-day Bismarck,
North Dakota. With 4,500 inhabitants, the villages have a
greater population than St. Louis -
.
Lewis and Clark select a site across the Missouri River
from the Indian villages and begin construction of
Fort Mandan. -
.
Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper
living with the Hidatsas is hired to be an interpreter
for the Expedition. -
.
Sacagawea, Charbonneau’s Indian wife, gives birth to
a son, Jean Baptiste, at Fort Mandan. The child is later
nicknamed Pompy, or Pomp by Clark. -
.
Lewis and Clark send the keelboat down Missouri
River with a shipment for President Jefferson.
The “permanent party” of the Expedition (consisting
of Lewis, Clark, 27 soldiers, York, Charbonneau,
Sacagawea, and her infant son) departs Fort Mandan. -
.
Lewis sees the Rocky Mountains for the first time. -
.
Lewis, scouting ahead of the main party, encounters the
Great Falls of the Missouri River. -
.
The Expedition begins to prepare for the difficult,
18-mile portage around the Great Falls, a series of
five waterfalls. -
.
Sacagawea recognizes a land feature and tells the
explorers they are close to the summer home of the
Shoshone people. -
.
The shipment from Fort Mandan arrives at the President’s
House in Washington.
Lewis ascends the Lemhi Pass and looks west from the
summit, only to see more mountains. -
.
Sacagawea is reunited with her brother, the Shoshone
chief Cameahwait, and helps negotiate for horses needed
by the Expedition to cross the Rocky Mountains. -
.
The Expedition ascends into the Bitterroot Mountains,
with Shoshone guide Old Toby leading the way. -
.
Clark writes in his journal that the Expedition is within
sight of the ocean. Actually, the explorers are still 20
miles from the Pacific coast. -
.
A vote is taken on where to spend the winter. Every
member of the party participates, including Sacagawea
and York. The explorers set up their winter encampment,
Fort Clatsop, south of the Columbia River. -
.
The Expedition leaves Fort Clatsop and begins its
homeward journey. They give the Fort to Coboway,
a Clatsop chief. -
.
The Expedition sets out to cross the Bitterroots with
three Nez Perce guides. -
.
Lewis and Clark divide the men in order to explore more
of the territory and to look for an easier pass over the
The Rockies. Lewis follows the Missouri River and Clark
follows the Yellowstone River. -
.
Clark names a large rock pillar on the Yellowstone River
Pompy’s Tower (now Pompy’s Pillar) after Sacagawea’s
son. Clark inscribes his name and the date. Still visible today, this is the only physical evidence of the
Expedition’s journey.
At Camp Disappointment, Lewis tries to take solar
readings, but it is too overcast and rainy. -
.
Lewis and his party have a skirmish with eight Blackfeet
warriors in which two of the Indians are killed. These are
the only violent deaths during the journey. -
.
The explorers are reunited near the junction of the
Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. -
.
The Expedition arrives in St. Louis. Lewis writes to
Thomas Jefferson that the corps has “penetrated the
The continent of North America to the Pacific Ocean.”