Montana

 Home  >>  Missouri  >>  Kansas City  >>  Historical Article

First Leg of the Journey

By: Phil Scriver, LC200 Historian

The long awaited moment had come. The equipment had all been gathered and neatly packed away; the men had been recruited and trained; the boats had been prepared and tested; and finally the weather was right. Captain Clark ordered the men into their assigned boats and they were off, up the Missouri River, leaving behind the safety of “the United States.” Three boats and 40 men against the perils of the wilderness. The first summer of travel would take them up the Missouri to the farthest extent of “known” territory, the Mandan Villages. From there wild images on an otherwise blank map and tales told around camp fires provided any knowledge of the land they were to cross and the people they were to meet as the Expedition made its way to the Pacific Ocean.

The Captains had done a great deal of careful planning in preparation for this moment. Clark recorded their flotilla consisted of a keelboat with 24 people and two pirogues, one with 8 people and the other with 7 people. The size of the party was larger than would be needed later, but the Captains wanted a larger force this first summer to travel through lands that were known to be hostile territory. They wanted this party to be a “show of force” to the French and British traders that worked on this part of the river. After reaching the Mandan Villages the extra men would return to St. Louis with the keelboat. The Captains would take the two pirogues and the rest of the party on up the Missouri to its headwaters.

Clark brought the group upriver from Camp Dubois to St. Charles where they were joined by Captain Lewis on May 20th. This brief trip showed Clark a few changes that needed to be made before continuing upriver. The load in each boat had to be shifted to make the bow heavier so the boats would not run up onto the huge trees floating downstream. They also had to put an extra man in one pirogue that could not keep up with the other boats. The brief layover at St. Charles also pointed out that the men’s training was not quite complete. Three men faced a courts martial board for misconduct and being AWOL. Two of them were sentenced to receive 25 lashes, but the sentence was suspended. The other man, apparently the ringleader, received 50 lashes.

On May 21, 1804 the exploring party left St. Charles for the journey upriver. Each mile they traveled was itself a victory as they pushed on straight into the horrible current of the Missouri River flowing almost flood stage fed by the early rains and snow melting in the mountains to the west. Uprooted trees swept along in the current became projectiles that must be dodged or they would destroy the boat it struck.

Clark was keeping the daily journal while Lewis recorded plant and animal life observed, weather information, celestial readings taken and other statistical records that make up the pool of knowledge about the expedition. Although they were traveling through territory that was familiar to many people, Clark dutifully recorded the geography. He noted the creeks and rivers that flowed into the Missouri and many rock formations and significant points along the way. Tavern Rock was one such point that became particularly significant to Lewis.

Lewis climbed to the top of this hill. While he was peering over its edge to the river 300 feet below, he slipped and fell. Somehow he managed to catch himself after falling only 20 feet. From there he cut footholds in the cliff’s face with his knife and worked his way back to the top.

But Clark was not the only journal keeper. A detachment order prepared on May 26th established the military duties and who was to perform each of them. This order also directed each Sergt to keep a journal “of all passing occurrences and such other observations on the country, etc as shall appear to them worthy of notice.” We know that Sergts Ordway, Floyd and Gass did keep journals. Sergt Pryor supposedly did, but it was never published and its location is unknown today. Letters written by Pryor in the years following the Expedition show he was very literate and an excellent writer. If his journal is ever found it could prove to be the best written one of all the journals.

Hard physical labor of overcoming the river’s current hand in hand with the dangers of snags, sawyers and shifting sandbars hidden just under the surface of the water became a way of life as the party slowly made its way up the river. There were the additional tasks of hunting, guard duty and inspections of weapons that filled every day to its maximum.

The journals for the first month of the trip are filled with names reflecting the early travels by Spanish and French explorers and traders. Most streams were named and numerous forts had been established to trade with the Indians of the region. Reading these entries gives a feeling of reading the history of an era gone by, being replaced by a new period of American ownership. The Lewis and Clark Expedition was the introduction of that story.

May 31st was a remarkable day for the Expedition. While waiting out a wind and rain strom Captain Lewis caught several wood rats. Clark mentions them this day in his journal, but Lewis didn’t make a detailed description of one until February of 1806 while the Expedition was in winter camp at Fort Clatsop. The wood rat was an animal that was new to science.

June 4th was another day that stands out. As the keelboat was making its way upriver under sail, it went under an overhanging tree breaking the mast on a large limb. While this was of concern, it was repaired without further incident and the group proceeded on. But is day Clark noted “this bird sang all last night and is the first of the kind I ever heard.” What kind of bird Clark heard has been the source of considerable speculation, with several different birds being suggested. Clark called it a nightingale and they even named the creek they camped near in this bird’s honor. However there are no true nightingales in America. (Recent research by Lewis and Clark scholars provides a convincing argument for the “chuck-will’s-widow,” a relative of the whippoorwill.)

Journal entries for early June record several interesting “finds” by Clark. They include a number of Indian burial mounds from pre-historic times, large rocks with Indian paintings on them, location references to several ancient Indian villages (the Expedition camped across the river from the ancient village of the Little Osages at Gumbo Point on June 15th) and the first buffalo signs. This last find is the most important to the Expedition since is shows they are moving onto the edge of the Great Plains where they will soon be seeing scores of thousands of these beasts.

Although the Expedition frequently met traders coming downriver with their loads of furs, their encounter on June 12th was probably the most productive. On that day one of the traders they met had been living with the Sioux for 20 years. The Captains were successful in persuading the old trader, Peter Dorion Sr., to go back upriver with the Expedition and help convince some of the Sioux Chiefs to “go to the United States” and meet with President Jefferson. With Dorion’s help the Captains were able to get several of the Chiefs to go with Dorion to St. Louis and on to Washington. Jefferson has asked Lewis to try to get as many Indians as possible to make such a trip.

On June 25th the Expedition traveled 13 miles upriver finally getting around Liberty Bend and camping on an island across the river from a “small high prairie.” This is in present day Kansas City, Missouri. They next day they traveled 10 miles, passing the mouth of the Blue Water River and working their way through some very bad water. The tow rope on the keelboat broke twice forcing the men to row “with very great exertion” to finally get around a large sandbar. They made camp on a point just above the Kansas River. This campsite is in present day Kansas City, Kansas.

They stayed in this camp for the next two days, taking advantage of the warm temperatures and gentle breeze to dry wet baggage and making repairs to the boats. Clark noted that the area they camped on was an ideal place for locating a fort. For their own protection they built a six foot high breastwork of logs across the point from the Kansas River to the Missouri River. They had encountered no Indians so far, but had see signs of several war parties. The men of the Expedition had earned a couple of days to rest before embarking on the next leg of their journey.