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The Boundless Missouri

By: LC200 staff

The Corps of Discovery left their camp on the Milk River and pushed on up the Missouri. Captain Lewis was confident and probably excited at the thought of getting closer to the Rocky Mountains. The information they had been given at winter camp was proving good and they had reached the second of two rivers that enters the Missouri from the north. The falls of the Missouri couldn’t be too much farther. But at the same time he was probably impatient at their slow rate of travel; fifteen miles per day is not very fast crossing the vast western prairies.

As they continued up the river Lewis had cause to change his opinion of grizzly bears. These bears were a common sight and run-ins with them were frequent. Lewis remarked that the grizzly intimidates the Expedition and he would rather fight two Indians than one grizzly. A few days later he described an encounter between six good hunters and a grizzly. They shot the bear eight times “each of which should have killed him. But the guns only served to direct the bear to them.” Four of the hunters had to flee for their lives before the bear finally collapsed and died. Every member of the Expedition by then had had their curiosity for the “white bear” quite well satisfied.

The same day the hunters had a close encounter with the grizzly, the white pirogue had its own troubles. A sudden squall came up while the boat was running under sails. The wind hit so hard the rudder was ripped out of Charbonneau’s hand and the boat was nearly overturned. It laid over on its side briefly becoming so full of water it barely made the shore. Charbonneau was a notoriously bad swimmer and easily excited. Cruzatt threatened “to shoot him on the spot if he didn’t take hold of they rudder and do his duty.” Lewis reported that Sacajawea stayed as calm as any on board and grabbed many of the items that were washed overboard.

A few other exciting things happened as the Expedition pushed upriver. One night Lewis narrowly missed stepping on a rattlesnake. By listening for the snake’s rattling he was able to locate it in the dark and kill it with his espontoon. Another night while everyone was sleeping a bull buffalo swam the river, climbed over the white pirogue and came storming into the middle of camp. Seaman’s barking managed to steer the creature through the sleeping men without any injuries. The only damage was that York’s rifle got badly bent and minor damage was done to the pirogue. One particularly windy night a large tree the Captains had their tent set up under caught fire. The night guard was barely able to get them awake and the tent moved before the tree came crashing down where the tent had been only minutes before. The shower of sparks from the tree did some damage to tents nearby. The fire that started in the nearby timber from the flying embers was more than the Expedition could put out.

On May 19 Seaman went into the river to retrieve a beaver that one of the hunters had wounded. Although Lewis said this was common for the dog to do, this particular time it was nearly fatal. The beaver bit Seaman on the hind leg severing an artery. Lewis was able to get the bleeding stopped, but he feared the dog was going to die. The injury did heal in time and the dog was back to his normal self. This was one of several close calls Seaman had that caused much anxiety for Lewis. When Lewis thought his dog was probably going to die from his would he became quite despondent, obviously totally devoted to his dog.

Those were the exciting time that found their way into the Captains journal entries. Most of the days were filled with the routine of getting the boats upstream, hunting excursions, survey notes, land descriptions, etc. There were some exceptions as Lewis made observations on an unusual plant or animal or he talked about a unique geographical feature and gave his theories. They also had to make comment on some strange weather happenings.

The first day after leaving the Milk River Lewis described a bird that was new to science. He compared this new bird to a plover; today it is known as a willet. A little farther up the river Lewis describes a low growing thorny plant that is giving the men much trouble as they make their way along the bank. This shrub now called greasewood was new to science. When Captain Clark narrowly escaped being bitten by a rattlesnake for the second time since they entered the present day state of Montana and another one was killed in camp Lewis carefully described it in his journal entry for the day. It was a new subspecies for science. Lewis made some other observations on the animals they encountered. He noted that although they see a variety of colors of grizzly bear, he determines they are all the same species. He also noted that prairie dogs survive in a land that gets very little water because they do not drink water, although he did not know how they did get their water. This was the first time that fact was reported.

On May 24, Lewis observes what he calls “island Mountains” rising out of the prairie. He then goes on to say that the high hills are a continuation of the Black Hills. Lewis was correct in the observation of several island mountains; today’s Montana map shows almost a dozen. However, Lewis was incorrect in his statement that they are a continuation of the Black Hills. This theory was not corrected until the 1850s.

Lewis made some very interesting observations as they worked their way up the Missouri. He observed that all along the river they had seen old camps and other signs of temporary residency, but they had seen no signs of a permanent population. This lead Lewis to conclude that nobody lives here, but everybody hunts here. Lewis had noticed that his inkstand was frequently getting dry. He also saw that the “well seasoned wood” case for his sextant had shrunk and cracks appeared between the pieces of wood (the joints opened up). These observations led to experimentation with Lewis recording the results. A tablespoon full of water left in the open air would evaporate in 36 hours when the temperature never went beyond 70 degrees. We know today that the relative humidity of the area is commonly in the range of 20 percent.

On May 25th the Expedition entered the area later known as the Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River. This is the same area that was recently designated the Missouri Breaks National Monument. The lands on either side of the river are noticeably more rugged while the river itself has a much faster current and large rapids that present considerable difficulty in negotiating. Four days later the Expedition reached the Judith River. This area is the start of the White Cliffs section that Lewis wrote so eloquently of. It was here that the Expedition almost met some of the Indians they had been seeing signs of. They found freshly cut and peeled poles floating down the river as well as an Indian football.

We sometimes wonder in amazement how Lewis was able to record so much detail of what he observed as the Expedition traveled up the Missouri. I suggest that he frequently walked on shore to make his notes and occupy his time and his mind. He could easily catch up with the boats if he should fall behind. The task of moving the Expedition up the river was, for the most part, very routine.

An excerpt from Lewis’ journal entry for May 26, 1805 illustrates his “mental flights” from the routine: “In the after part of the day I walked out and ascended the river hills which I found sufficiently fortieguing. On arriving to the summit of one of the highest points I thought myself well repaid; as from this point I beheld the Rocky Mountains for the first time. I could only discover a few of the most elevated points [which] were covered with snow and the sun shone on it in such manner as to give me the most plain view. I felt a secret pleasure in finding myself so near the head of the heretofore conceived boundless Missouri.”