Heading Into Danger?
August 01-31, 1804
At sunset on August 2, a party of Oto and Missouri Indians arrived at the expedition's camp. This first Indian encounter went well, the two sides exchanging greetings and gifts. But the captains realized that things would be different when they met the Sioux. President Jefferson had specifically mentioned the need to make a friendly impression on this powerful tribe.
During this time, Sergeant Charles Floyd became the first U.S. soldier to die west of the Mississippi when he died on August 20, probably of appendicitis. He was the only member of the Corps to die along the journey.
By the final week of August, Lewis and Clark had reached the eastern edge of the Great Plains, a virtual Eden abounding in elk, deer, buffalo, and beaver. They were now heading toward the heart of Sioux territory.
The expedition first encountered the Yankton Sioux, a more peaceable people than their neighbors farther up the Missouri, the Teton Sioux. The Yankton were somewhat disappointed by the gifts they received—a mere five medals—and warned the Americans about the reception they would receive upriver.
Into Grizzly Country
April 07-May 03, 1805
For the first time in their journey, Lewis and Clark were headed in their preferred direction—due west.
They were now in grizzly country. The Indians had warned them about these powerful creatures, but Lewis remained unimpressed. He thought that while grizzlies posed a real danger to Indians armed only with bows and arrows, they would prove no match for a man with a rifle.
On April 29 Lewis changed his mind. That day he 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 some 80 yards (73 meters) before he and one of his colleagues were able to reload and kill the bear.
Rockies in Sight
May 04-28, 1805
In early May the expedition almost lost one of its two pirogues when a sudden gust of wind caught the sails and heeled the vessel over on its side. Only quick action by Sacagawea, who was riding in the vessel, saved precious journals and supplies that otherwise would have been lost. The young woman reached into the river and retrieved as much as she could.
By now Lewis and Clark were growing ever more anxious to catch sight of the Rockies, the mountain barrier they knew they would have to cross. In the last week of May, Lewis saw the mountains for the first time. He was filled with joy, immediately tempered by a realization of the challenge that lay ahead.
The captains were eager to reach the Rockies, but progress was slow along the frequently bending river, which was now shallow and filled with jutting rocks.
Among the Shoshone
August 08-24, 1805
On August 11 Lewis spotted an Indian on horseback. It was a Shoshone at last, the first Indian they had seen since Fort Mandan.
The Shoshone led the expedition to his chief, who in a dramatic stroke of luck turned out to be Sacagawea’s brother. Soon the captains—with Sacagawea translating—were bargaining with the chief, Cameahwait, for horses. Without these horses, their chances of reaching the Pacific would likely have been quashed.
At first, a knife and an old shirt were enough to purchase a horse. But the price went up every day, until Clark had to offer his knife, his pistol, and a hundred rounds of ammunition for a single animal. Most of the horses were in poor condition.
The captains also secured information from the Shoshone. An old man of the tribe described a trail that led across the Continental Divide. The trail was used by the Nez Perce, who lived on the far side of the Rockies. Now the expedition had a way over the mountains
"Ocean in View!"
October 08-December 07, 1805
Carried along by the river's breakneck current, the corps rode the Clearwater. They reached the Snake River on October 10, the Columbia six days later. There the Americans paused to rest and meet Indians who had gathered along the shore; in one village Clark estimated there were 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms) of dried salmon. Then the explorers headed down the Columbia, portaging around the river's roughest spots in the Cascades, the last mountain range between them and the Pacific.
Upon reaching a wide body of water Clark waxed momentous—prematurely. On November 7 he thought they had reached the Pacific: "Ocean in view! O! the joy," he wrote in his journal. But they were actually at the estuary of the Columbia—still 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the coast. Fierce Pacific storms, rolling waters, and high winds pinned them down for three weeks—"the most disagreeable time I have experienced," Clark wrote.
But by the middle of November they made it to the Pacific.
Eagerly the men scanned the gray, rolling waves of the ocean for the masts of a ship that could carry them home. Eventually, though, they resigned themselves to spending the winter on the coast.
Winter on the Pacific
December 08-30, 1805
Lewis and Clark decided to make camp south of the Columbia. On a slight rise along the banks of a small river, they cleared a site of trees and brush and built Fort Clatsop, named after the local Clatsop Indians.
Their time at the fort was monotonous, spent making moccasins and buckskin clothing, storing food, and working on journals and maps. Even Christmas Day was gloomy, the men's dinner stringy elk meat and roots. Rain was constant.
The captains were anxious to meet one of the trading ships that came frequently to the mouth of the Columbia from U.S. ports or from Britain. One ship did stop to trade with the Indians during the corps's time on the West Coast. But the Indians did not tell Lewis and Clark about it, and the ship left without them ever knowing it had been there.
Parting Ways, Skirmishing With Blackfeet
July 03-28, 1806
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 chances, Lewis's men took turns to stand guard through the night. In the morning one of the Indians snatched a pair of rifles, and in the struggle that followed two Indians died. Lewis and his men rode off, covering 120 miles (190 kilometers) in 24 hours, not knowing whether Blackfeet were giving chase.
Meanwhile, Clark and his group crossed the divide on July 8 and descended into the territory of the Crow tribe, the great horse thieves of the Plains. On July 21 the party awoke to find half of their horses gone. Yet they never saw a Crow.
Given Up for Dead, Hailed as Heroes
September 10-23, 1806
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 an enthusiastic welcome.