-
The Journey Begins
Their journey began in St. Louis, Misouri. They moved 600 miles up the river by the end of July and along the way had not encountered a single indian. -
Heading Into Danger?
By the Final week of august, L`ewis and Clark had reached the edge of the great planes. They were on their way, heading to the sSoux territory, and when they finally came across the Sioux were very kind to them. They had warned the Americans about the reception they would recieve uo river. -
Racing Against Winter's approach
Lewis and Clark's goal was to cover as much ground before the Misouri river froze. The food supply began to decrease, therefore, to make it through the winter, the captains would need to find sourses of meat. -
Winter Among The Mandan
The member of this expedition kept busy during the winter they spent at fort Mandan. They repaired equitment, traded with the indians, and lit up some buffalo. Lewis and Clark spent a majority of the winter writing a report about their observations on their journey so far. -
Winter into Grizzly Country
For the first time on their journey, they were headed in their prefered direction which was west. They were now in grizzly country, yet Lewis was still unimpressed. He thought that while grizzlies posed a danger to indians, due to their lack of weapons. They would prove no match to a man with a rifle. However, on April 29th, Lewis had a change in thought. He and his men, though they faced some conflict in the process, managed to kill one of the grizzlies -
Fork in the River
One June 3, Lewis and Clark had encountered a fork in the river. One of their main goals was to cross the Rockies before autumn snows. The captains believed taking the southern branch would lead them to Misouri, therefore reaching their destination faster. The rest of the men disagreed with the captains and thought they should go north. Lewis and Clark could not afford to loose travel time. Lewis went up the Southern to check and sure enough he found out they were on the Misouri -
The Great Falls
Lewis, on June 13th, became the first white man to see the Great Falls with his own two eyes. He discovered the Falls were extremely longer than the Indians had warned them. He realized it was going to take them quite longer than expected to get around the falls. Lewis journied back to Clark and the men and they began their treacherous journey that took them over a month. They had finally reached the Rockies once they completed their journey around the falls. -
The Shoshone
In oder to get from the Misouri river to the Columbia River, Lewis and Clark and their men would need horses. On August 11th, lewis spotted an Indian on horseback from the Shohsone tribe. The expedition had arranged deals and trades with the Shoshones for horses. As well as obtaining the horses, they also were given a way to get over the mountains from and older man of the Shoshone tribe. -
The Crossing
Just as the expedition was begining to venture over the Continental Divide, cold weather hit them hard and food was scarce. However, they did pass the divide and made it down into Bitterroots Valley. There they had met the Flathead tribe, from whom they bought more horses to help contiune their journey across the Bitterroot Mountains -
The Bitterroots
After being in the Bitterroots for 11 days the men and horses were both starving. Food had become so scarce that the men resulted in eating three of the horses. Eventually they settled down on a bank of the Clearwater River, and by October 7th, they left their campsite and headed down the Clearwater river. -
The Ocean
On November 7th, they had thought they reached the Pacific ocean when they came across a large body of water. However it was really just the estuary of the Columbia and they were actually still quite a ways from the coast. There were complications that held them up for three weeks, yet despite this setback they reached the Pacific by the middle of November. Once realziing they didnt have a ship they resulted in spending the winter on the coast -
Pacific Coast Winter
For the winter they settled down at camp they called Fort Clastop. They spent their majoirty of the time making moccasin, food, clothes, documents, etc. They had no forms of transportation yet therefore they remained doing the same things all winter on the coast and It was a gloomy and dragged out time for them. -
Readying for the Return
Lewis and Clark are ready to go back home. They needed to leave very soon or the Missouri would freeze over and they'd spend another grueling winter on the plains. -
Abandoning the Boats
The party was constantly harrassed on their journey home by the Chanooka indians. Their repeated attempts to steal the expedition's supplies nearly provoked open hostilities many times. They eventually abandoned their canoes and traveled on horseback. -
Among the Nez Perce
Until their departure the men faced a diet of dried fish and roots, with occasional meat; deer, elk, horse, or dog. During the time with the Nez Perce, Lewis busied himself studying nature, Clark with treating sick members of the tribe. By early june they were ready to continue. -
Crossing the Bitterroots, again
The expedition left the Nez Perce on June 10, each member riding a horse and leading another. Five days later they began to make their way up into the mountains. On June 30 they reached Traveler's Rest, where Lewis and Clark decided to part ways in order to explore more of the Louisiana Territory. Lewis and nine men would explore the Marias River to the north, while Clark and the others would head for the Yellowstone River in the south. -
Parting Ways, Skirmishing With Blackfeet
On July 3 Lewis and his group broke camp, crossing the Continental Divide and descending from the mountains near the Great Falls. The captain ordered his men to portage the supplies around the Falls, while he and three of the men went off to explore the Marias River. Lewis and his colleagues knew the Marias was Blackfeet Indian territory—and therefore dangerous. On July 26 eight Blackfeet spotted them. The Blackfeet seemed friendly, and the two groups decided to camp together. Taking no chance -
Riding the Missouri
On August 11 one of Clark's group, while out hunting, shot at what he thought was an elk—and hit a buckskin-clad Lewis instead. The shot passed through Lewis’s left thigh, inflicting a painful but not fatal wound. Clark and Lewis's groups were reunited. From here on, the current of the Missouri River would carry them homeward at a swift pace. -
Returning to the Mandans, Running a Sioux Gauntlet
Soon Lewis and Clark were back at the Mandan villages, where they bade farewell to some members of the expedition, including Sacagawea. On August 17 the party left the villages, Lewis's wound having healed enough for him to continue. The expedition still had to run the gauntlet of the Teton Sioux. On August 30 nearly a hundred armed and mounted Sioux warriors lined the banks of the Missouri. The Corps kept to the middle of the river, however, and the encounter was one of threats and taunts only -
Given Up for Dead, Hailed as Heroes
Now on the home stretch of the journey, the expedition was making as much as 80 miles (130 kilometers) a day. Lewis and Clark began to meet traders who informed them that they had been given up for dead. On the morning of September 23, the Corps of Discovery entered the Mississippi River and at noon disembarked at St. Louis—two years, four months, and ten days after they had left. Gathered along the shore, the one thousand people of St. Louis greeted the returned Corps with gunfire salutes and