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Most Beautiful and Commanding View

By: Phil Scriver, LC200 Historian

After spending nearly two weeks in Clarksville/Louisville where Captain Clark and his recruits, the nine young men from Kentucky, joined the group, Lewis set off on the journey to St. Louis on October 26, 1803. However, neither he nor Captain Clark made any daily journal entries until November 11th. Consequently we know very little of the activity for the first two weeks of their trip. It would be interesting to see how they got along and how the men reacted to co-commanders.

When Lewis continued his journal, the entries from November 11th through the 21st were rather jumbled and incomplete. He does say they arrived at Fort Massac and while there he hired George Drewyer as an interpreter for $25 per month. On the 13th Lewis was “seized with a violent ague which lasted four hours and as usual was followed by a fever.” By morning the fever was somewhat abated. He took a dose of Rushes Pills which “operated extremely well” and the fever was gone by that evening. Today we recognize he had a malaria attack. What effect would a strong laxative have on that?

Camp for the night of November 14th was at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, near present day Cairo, Illinois, where they remained until November 20th. During the days at the junction both Captains examined the country to determine the best location for establishing a military fort. They also each spent time taking astronomical readings to determine latitude and longitude and they visited the site where Old Fort Jefferson had stood. That fort was built by Capt Clark’s brother General George Rogers Clark in 1780—but abandoned the following year—a few miles below present day Wickliffe, Kentucky.

The Captains left the junction on the 20th and continued their trip up the Mississippi River a hundred miles to Kaskaskia November 27th where they remained until Lewis left overland to St. Louis by horse on December 5th while Clark left December 3rd by boat bringing the group sixty miles upriver to Cahokia. Lewis rejoined them there on the 9th. Clark took over the duties of journal keeping on the 28th of November. He made an entry for that day, but did not make another one until December 3rd. Consequently we do not know what happened during the stopover or why they stopped for these days. When Clark reached Cahokia he again stopped his daily journal entries for December 8, 9, 10 while he waited for Lewis. After discussions with Lewis, on the 11th Clark took the group upriver, reaching Wood River the next day while Lewis remained in St. Louis writing several letters and getting detailed information about the surrounding country.

Reading the daily entries Lewis made in his journal during the trip from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia and Clark’s entries from there to Wood River, only a few details come out. We learn that like the Ohio, the Mississippi is experiencing a very low water year. Consequently there are many more islands and sandbars in the river than would normally be seen. However there is a good channel so the group did not have problems with rapids and riffles like on the Ohio. Clark tells us that when Lewis visited the commandant in St. Louis he would not let the Captains travel up the Missouri without first getting approval from his superiors. Lewis was not very concerned about this response, because he knew the territory would be turned over to American control before the Expedition set out the next spring. Also mentioned are several other keelboats the group sees on the river and a village of Shawnees that moved to the Mississippi after the Indian Wars of the 1780s and 1790s becoming known as the “Absentee Shawnees.” Lewis notes when they reach the Grand Tower and Sugarloaf Point that separates the Lower Mississippi from the Upper Mississippi River. In one of the few flourishes of writing during the trip Lewis says “there is a most beautiful and commanding view from the summit of Sugarloaf Point.” He relates how the rivermen view this area much like the sailors on ocean going vessels view crossing the equator for the first time. The first time a riverman crosses from the Lower to Upper Mississippi they must furnish drinks for all hands or get very unceremoniously dumped into the river. Lewis described the extremely strong and dangerous whirlpool that during normal or high water makes this crossing very tricky to navigate, but during the low water the whirlpool does not form so crossing can be done at will. The major settlements along the river are noted as well as some of the old forts the military had established in the area.

Most of the entries are short and consist of a series of small creeks and islands that the group passes. The exceptions are the entries for November 22 that contains two pages of detailed description of the country observed from the river and the plants growing on it. Then on the 23rd Lewis writes almost four pages talking about his experiences with the commandant at Cape Jeradeau by the name of Louis Lorimier. Lewis describes the horse races they attended, Lorimier’s background and his Shawnee wife, “a very descent woman.”

Reading the journals for the trip from Pittsburgh to Wood River gives the feeling of reading notes taken on a trip through the countryside. Most of the area is settled and somewhat familiar so there is no need for detailed descriptions. The Captains seemed to take a very casual approach to this part of their journal keeping; in fact 32 of the 73 days of the trip contain no entries. This journal which starts on August 31st when Lewis leaves Pittsburgh and ends on December 12th when the group reaches Wood River has become known as the “Eastern Journal.”