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A Unique Place

By: LC200 staff

“Descended the mountain to Travellers Rest leaving those tremendious mountains behind us – in passing of which we have experienced cold and hunger of which I shall ever remember. A little before sunset we arrived at our old encampment on the creek a little above its entrance into Clarks River. Here we encamped with a view to remain two days in order to rest ourselves and horses and make our final arrangements for seperation.”

Not only was this place Clark described their “old camp” but it was used as a favorite camping spot in the area for hundreds of Indians as they passed through these valleys of western Montana. But it was unique to the Expedition for reasons beyond being the location where the Expedition split into several parties as they explored Montana.

Lewis convinced his Indian guides who had successfully brought them through those tremendious mountains to get him to the “road to the buffalo” that lead to the great falls of the Missouri. The evening before they departed, Lewis was given a Nez Perces name by the chief who had been one of the guides. Lewis was “Yo-me-kol-lick” which translates to “the white bearskin folded.”

During the days spent at Traveler’s Rest Lewis collected specimen of four plants that were new to science. He collected the small head clover, thinleaf owl clover, wormleaf stonecrop, and probably the best know plant – the bitterroot. That plant was widely used by the Indians of the area and is today Montana’s state flower.

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