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Lewis and Clark Voyage
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off up the Missouri River from their camp in St. Louis in attempt to find a Northwest Passage, in which they had been preparing for since fall of 1803. They decided to make this journey in a 55ft long keelboat and two smaller pirogues. Along came many other people including 2 sergeants, Clark's slave, a few boatmen and many more along for this expedition. Despite the amount of people Lewis and Clark didn't really know what they were searching. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
On August 2nd at the end of the day some Missouri indians and a party of Oto arrived here at the expedition's camp. This first indian encounter went way better than what they thought it would. Lewis and Clark and their crew ended up exchanging gifts and greeting and working out well. The crew had yet to meet the sioux indians and were told to be careful and don't start off on their wrong foot. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
They had now meet with the Sioux Indians and were sharing gifts insuch untill they started to become threatening. Lewis and Clark felt as if they were endanger so they threw up their weapons along with the indians, ending with both of them pulling back with no damage done. This ended up in a loss of hope for Thomas Jefferson, which was developing friendly relations with the indians. Not Only this but now they continued their expedition with an potential enemy following. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
As Winter was approaching Lewis, Clark and his gang were determined to make their way up the Missouri river as furthest as they could before it froze. The crew decided to spend their winter at Mandan's village. With consideration of the freezing cold and the possible threat of the Indians the crew started on a fort . By around the start of December their fort had been finished just as the ice was starting to form along the river. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
As the months before April came and went, the crew had gone through a freezing winter where they traded with the Indians, reapired equipment and hunted, while they waited for the Missouri to unfreeze. The first rain finally came down and started to melt the river. As the crew started noticing this they finally realized it was time to pack up their stuff and get ready to explore new lands. They got their canoes and pirogues and furthered their journey. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
Lewis, Clark and his crew were fnally headed in the direction they wanted, that was West. They didn't realize the fact that the weren't only heading west but also into grizzly country. This didn't scare lewis one bit, he believed a man with a gun could take down a bear extremely easy. This whole thought changed when Lewis and several of his men spotted a pair of grizzlies. They wounded one of the bears, which managed to escape. But the other ran at Lewis, chasing him about 80 yards. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
During the expedition two pirogues caught a gust of wind and tipped over. Sacajawea, who was the only one on the boat, first instinct, was to reach in and save all sorts of journals and supplies that they would of lost. Lewis and Clark were becoming very anxious thinking about when the would see their mountains they had to cross. The crew finally spotted the mountains, became extremely ecstatic and developed a slight realization of the challenge that was ahead of them. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
The journey had now came upon a fork in the river. Though the branches of the fork were of equal size, the captains believed that the southern branch was the Missouri, which would lead them to the mountains they hoped to cross, the Rockies. The rest of the men disagreed, convinced that the northern branch was the right choice. Lewis decided on taking three men with him up the southern branch in search of the great falls. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
Around June 15th Lewis had finally reached the great falls of the Missouri river. The only thing Lewis didn't realize was that there wasn't just one fall, there was many of them that stretched almost 12 miles. He knew that this was going to be a real struggle getting across these falls. A few days later Lewis and his crew started across the falls, one of the hardest things they had done. By the time a month had passed they finally made it passed these falls and had the Rockies in sight. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
As Lewis, Clark and his crew were decreasing their distance from the rockies, the snow-covered peaks were becoming visible. They believed when they crossed the Continental Divide, that they could then hop onto the Columbia River, even though this expedition from the Missouri River to the Columbia River was going to require horses. In order to get these horses they would have to find the Shoshone tribe and up until now, they haven't came in sight. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
Finally on August 11th they had seen the first indan since Fort Mandan. This Indian ended up being apart of the Shoshone tribe. He then lead Lewis and Clark's crew to his chief where they would try and bargain for horses. Even though these horses were in terrible conditions the amount for one horse included many things such as knifes, ammunition and etc. The Shoshone tribe not only offered their horses but also provided them a trail of getting through the continental divide. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
From August 15th up until now they had crossed the continental divide with most suffering from starvation. The reached the bottom of the divide and met a group of Indians called the flatheads in the bottom of bitterroot valley. They then bought some more horses from these Indians and crossed through these bitterroots, where the horses suffered from starvation.The Crew finally set up camp on the Clearwater River with help of the Nez Perce, nourished themselves and went back on their journey. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
The crew paused to rest on the Columbia with a few Indians where they snacked on a bunch of salmon. They then proceded down this river crossing through the cascades the last mountain range before the Pacific. Clark and crew had reached the mouth of the Columbian were he thought was the Pacifc. They ended up facing many strong storms that put their journey on halt for a few weeks. Eventually by the end of November they had made it to the Pacific Ocean. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
They decided to spend their winter along a bank of a small river south of the Columbia River. The named it Fort Clatsop after the Clatsop Indians. Their time here was spent mainly making clothing storing food, and writing journals. The crew was really excited waiting for a U.S or Britain ship to possibly come into the port so they could have a chance at trading with them. A ship ended up coming in, traded with the indians and they didn't tell the crew. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
The crew was ready to go home but the had to wait for the snow to melt on the moutans, problem was if they waited to long the Missouri river would be frozen causing them to spend another winter there. Around the third week of March the crew started back on their journey. They loaded their three dugouts, purchased a fourth from the local Indians, and stole one from the nearest village. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
They were now on their way back going through many treacherous currents and falls. The Chinookan Indians were a constant harassment during this trip back. Their repeated attempts to steal the expedition's supplies nearly caused many of fights. The crew after going through all of these treacherous obstacles dumped their canoes, and obtained horses from the Walla Walla Tribe for the on foot part of their journey towards the mountains. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
They had finally made it into the mountains, but these were't the spring mountains they were the winter mountains. The crew had found themselves riding horseback on about 10 feet of snow, and so tightly packed that it could hold the horses. They finally got through the mountains on about June 30th in which they reached the Traveler's rest. Lewis and 9 men went to explore the Marias River, while Clark and others would go on the Yellowstone River in attempt to further explore the La Territory. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
On August 11th, one of Clark's crew members while he was out hunting had thought he saw an elk and shot it. Little did he know that it was Lewis, where he shot a hole right through his thigh. Lewis and Clark's crew had found themselves back together now and started back home on the Missouri River with the current at there back. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
Lewis and Clarks' crew had finally reached the Mandan Village, where they waited for Lewis to heal and everyone to nourish back up. The expedition then on August 30th returned on their expedition. They still had to face the Sioux Indians in which lined the banks of the Missouri river. However these 100 or so armed indians only posed a threat and a few taunts, and they continued underway. -
Lewis and Clark Voyage
Lewis and Clark's crew were finally approaching the last stretch of the journey making almost 80 miles a day, while being informed by many that everyone had thought they were dead. On September 23rd the crew had reached the banks of the Mississippi River in St.Louis where thousands of people gathered along the shore saluting and welcoming back everyone who went. After 2 years 4 months and 10 days, Lewis, Clark and his crew were finally home.
