 Article
From River Life, Volume 5, No 23, June 24, 2004
Up The River
With Lewis and Clark
Part 1, May 14, 1804-June 26, 1804
By Bill Markley
Rain fell from the overcast sky. Enough breeze came from out of the
northeast to fill the sail and propel the keelboat westward. The men on
board were in high spirits even though it was not the best weather to
start a cross-continent trip. So began one of the great American
adventures. At 4:00 p.m., on May 14, 1804, after more than a year of
preparation, the United States Corp of Discovery set out from its winter
camp on the Illinois bank of the Mississippi River. On that first day,
the 55-foot keelboat and two smaller pirogues crossed the Mississippi
River to the mouth of the Missouri and headed up river four miles.
President
Thomas Jefferson appointed his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to
lead the expedition and Lewis chose William Clark to be his co-leader.
The Corp of Discovery started out with approximately 42 men. This number
would fluctuate over the course of the expedition. President Jefferson
said their mission was to proceed up the Missouri River to its source
and then find a passage to the Pacific Ocean. They were to come in peace
to the local inhabitants and inform them that they were now part of the
United States. They were to determine the prospects for trade, and take
notes on local peoples and their customs. They were to take scientific
observations and record anything new that they encountered.
In 1803, the
United States had bought the Louisiana Territory from France in a secret
treaty, after Spain had secretly returned Louisiana to France.
Confusing? Even though he knew about the secret deals between Spain and
France, and France and the United States, the Spanish official in St.
Louis would not allow the Corp of Discovery to be based in Louisiana
Territory, the west bank of the Mississippi, until the territory was
officially transferred on March 9, 1804.
On May 14,
while William Clark led the expedition up the Missouri, Meriwether Lewis
was still in St. Louis finishing administrative details for the
expedition and arranging for American Indian leaders to go to Washington
to meet with President Jefferson. While in St. Louis, Meriwether stayed
with his new friends the Chouteau brothers, Pierre and Auguste. The
Chouteau brothers were influential St. Louis businessmen who helped
outfit the Corps of Discovery. (As a note, Pierre and Ft. Pierre, South
Dakota are named for Pierre Chouteau’s son.)
May 16,
22-year-old Sergeant Charles Floyd from Kentucky wrote, “arrived at St.
Charles at 2 o’clock Pm one gun fired a Grait nomber of Friench people
Came to see the Boat.” St. Charles was settled by the French in 1769 and
at this time 450 people lived there. The men spent their time reloading
the keelboat and socializing with the citizens as they waited for Lewis
to join them. During a rainstorm on May 20, Lewis and a number of St.
Louis friends including Auguste Chouteau arrived in St. Charles by
horseback. The next day, May 21, with a shout of three cheers from
friends and townspeople, the Corps of Discovery left St. Charles heading
west, upriver.
The
expedition passed Boone’s Settlement on May 24. Daniel Boone had started
the settlement and currently lived there. Did Lewis and Clark meet him?
They left no record if they did. Maybe old Daniel was out hunting.
May 25, the
Corps of Discovery passed the village of La Charette consisting of five
families, the last white settlement on the Missouri River. The people
gave them milk and eggs.
On June 1,
they reached the Osage River, which is about the midpoint of the
Missouri River as it flows through today’s state of Missouri.
The river
current was against them at about five miles an hour. They had to be
careful of whirlpools, swift currents, shifting sandbars, floating trees
on and below the surface of the river. Some of these trees called
sawyers were imbedded into the river bottom. The Corp of Discovery
needed to be careful of overhanging tree limbs. William Clark wrote on
June 4, “the Sergt. at the helm run under a bending Tree & broke the
mast.”
The
expedition started out with two horses to use for hunting. The number of
horses would vary over the course of the expedition. Hunters would set
out each day and bring back game to add to the food supply. Charles
Floyd wrote on June 11, “ouer hunters Kiled 2 Bar & 2 Deer."
June 12, they
met two pirogues coming downriver loaded with pelts. The leader of the
group was Pierre Dorion Sr., a family friend of the Clarks back in
Illinois. Pierre was married to a woman who was a member of the Yankton
Sioux Tribe and he had been living with the tribe. William persuaded the
old family friend to join them to act as interpreter and introduce them
to the Yanktons.
The men came
down with boils and dysentery. Clark blamed the river water and told the
men to make sure they dipped well below the surface scum when fetching
water.
Clark had
been off hunting by himself. On Sunday, June 24, he wrote, “I joined the
Boat theis morning with a fat Bear & two Deer. Last evening ... I
concluded to camp although I had nothing but my hunting Dress, &
Musquitors Ticks & Knats very troublesome.” During this day, the men saw
immense herds of deer and plenty of bear sign.
By June 26,
the Corp of Discovery had traveled 400 miles to where the Missouri River
makes a sharp bend from the west to the north. They camped at the mouth
of the Kansas River across from present-day Kansas City.
Up The River With Lewis and Clark
Part 2, June 26, 1804-July 8, 1804
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