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April 27, 1805: The Corps of Discovery left their campsite where Fort Union is now located and followed the Missouri River into what is now Montana. Besides the two captains, there were three sergeants, 23 enlisted men, Clark's black slave, York, two inter-preters, Drouillard and Charbonneau, Charbonneau's wife, Sacajawea and her 2-month-old son, Baptiste (nicknamed Pomp) and Seaman, Lewis's Newfoundland dog. They came in six canoes and two round boats called pirogues. They camped that night across the river from what is now the community of Nohly in Richland County.
April 28, Sunday: They covered 24 miles. Lewis: "the beaver have cut great quantities of timber; saw a tree nearly 3 feet in di-ameter that had been felled by them." Camped on the south side of the river near Otis Creek.
April 29, Monday: Lewis saw and shot his first Grizzly bear which pursued him 70 or 80 yards before the second shot killed him. He wrote: "...this anamal ap-peared to me to differ from the black bear; it is a much more furi-ous and formidable anamal, and will frequently pursue the hunter when wounded." Camped just above Big Muddy Creek in Roosevelt County.
April 30, Tuesday: Clark, Charbonneau and Sacajawea walked along the shore most of the day. Lewis shot a bull elk which men-sured 5 feet 3 inches from hoof to top of the shoulder. Camped on the north side near the present Brockton.
May 1, Wednesday: Lewis wrote: "...the wind being favorable—we used our sales which carried us on a a good pace untill about 12 OCk. when the wind became so high that the small canoes were unable to proceed." Spent the rest of the day and night on the south side in the vicinity of the later Elkhorn Point.
May 2, Thursday: "...at daylight it began tosnow...ground was covered with an inch deep, forming a striking contrast with the vegetation, which is considerably advanced, put-ting flowers forth..." Camped 15 miles below Porcupine River (now Poplar River) on the north side.
May 3, Friday: Went several miles up Porcupine River and named a "bold running stream" 2000 Mile Creek, (Redwater now) because that is how far they figured they had come. They camped three or four miles above the present town of Poplar. This site is not certain.
May 4, Saturday: "We were detained this morning untill about 9 OCk. in order to repare the rudder irons...which were broken last evening in landing;... passed several old Indian hunting camps..." Traveled 18 miles and camped on the north shore (Roosevelt County).
May 5, Sunday:"saw the carcases of many Buffaloe lying dead along the shore partially devoured by the wolves and bear." Clark found a den of young wolves, possibly coy-otes. "my dog caught a goat (antelope) which he overtook by superior fleetness, the goat it must be understood was with young and extreemly poor." They camped southeast of the present town of Wolf Point. Due to shifts in the river, the campsite is now on the opposite side and a mile or two from the river.
Excerpted from Missouri River Country brochure, “Montana’s Lewis and Clark Trail Through Missouri River Country.”
May 6, Monday: Lewis: "a fine morning ... passed two Creeks and a River today on the Lard ... the countrey on both sides butifull." Camped on a point on the south side of the river (now McCone County), a few miles southwest of the present town of Oswego.
May 7, Tuesday: "the country we passed today on the North side of the river is one of the most beautifull plains we have yet seen, it rises gradual-ly ... then becoming level as a bowling green.... as far as the eye can reach;" Camped on the south bank, a few miles southwest of the present town of Frazer.
May 8, Wednesday: Lewis wrote: "We saw a great number of buffaloe, elk, common and blacktailed deer, goats, beaver and wolves." Camped on south side (of old river bed) about 7.5 river miles below Fort Peck Dam. Site is now in Valley County.
May 9, Thursday: Passed Big Dry on the south side. Lewis wrote: "today we passed the bed of the most extraordinary river that I ever beheld, it is as wide as the Missouri is at this place or 1/2 a mile wide and not containing a single drop of runing water;" They traveled 24 1/2 miles (9 1/2 past the Big Dry) and camped on the north side near what is now Duck Creek.
May 10, Friday: Set out at sunrise but only traveled 4 1/2 miles when a violent storm came up and they had to seek shelter on the south side. A dog wandered into their shelter, and they watched for Indians but saw none. Group is bothered with boils and sore eyes.
May 11, Saturday: Woke to frost. River very crooked, banks caving in and strong winds. Bratton was chased by bear he had, shot. Hunters went back and killed the bear. It took two men to carry the hide. They ren-dered the bear's oil—about eight gallons. Traveled 17 miles and camped on the south shore, close to where "The Pines" is today.
May 12, Sunday: Lewis describes choke cherries in "blume." Strong winds. Traveled 18 3/4 miles and camped early on the south side.
May 13, Monday: Did not start until afternoon because of strong winds. "... courant weather stronger than usual and the water contin-ues to become reather clearer, from both which I anticipate a change of country shortly." wrote Lewis. They started saving skins to make a leather boat to use above the falls. Traveled seven miles and camped on the south side about one or two miles above the former entrance of today's Crooked Creek.
Excerpted from Missouri River Country brochure, “Montana’s Lewis and Clark Trail Through Missouri River Country.”
The Return
In the 1930's the largest hydraulically tilled earth dam in the world was built on the Missouri River, backing water up for about 134 miles and forming Fort Peck Lake. Fifteen Lewis and Clark campsites along this section of the river are now under lake water. The lake has many bays and inlets, giving it 1,520 miles of shoreline (Elev. 2234). It is surrounded by the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
On the return trip in 1806 Lewis and Clark separated July 3, 1806. Clark would explore the Yellowstone River, Lewis would explore the Marias and retrace their route along the Missouri and pick up their cached materials.
August 3: Lewis, in a hurry to meet Clark, did not stop for lunch and set out the next morning, August 4, at 4 a.m. That day they passed the mouths of the Big Dry (which had water this time) and the Milk River.
August 5: The group waited, in vain, until noon for Colter and Collins, who had gone hunting, to catch up with them. That night, a violent storm arose and lasted through the next day, August 6, hampering their progress.
August 7: Lewis: "..at 8 A.M. we passed the entrance of Marthy's river (Big Muddy Creek) which has changed it's entrance since we passed it last year,..." They arrived at the mouth of the Yellowstone at 4 P.M., and found a note that Clark had left August 4, saying: "Musquetors excessively troublesom So much So that the men complained that they could not work at their Skins for those troublesom insects, and I find it entirely impossible to hunt in the bottoms,....The torments of those Missquetors ....induce me to deturmine to proceed on to a more eliagiable Spot..." Both men (Clark on the 4th and Lewis on the 7th) left Mon-tana worried about each other and bothered by mosquitoes.
On August 12, Colter and Collins caught up with Lewis along the Missouri River at a point which is now under Garrison Reservoir. The same day he wrote: "...at 1 P.M. I overtook Capt. Clark and party and had the pleasure of finding them all well."
Excerpted from Missouri River Country brochure, “Montana’s Lewis and Clark Trail Through Missouri River Country.”
Lewis & Clark Meet Mr. Griz
Editor’s Note: The creative spelling and punctuation found in the journals has been faithfully reproduced to give you the true flavor of the time.
The Corps of Discovery led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark entered Montana in April of 1805. The explorers had wintered with the Mandan Indians in what is now central North Dakota. They spent the winter gathering information from the local tribesmen to determine what lay ahead. The Indians and French traders they encountered no doubt warned the white men about the ferocious “great white bear.” The explorers did not faithfully record these warnings in their journals. The Indians told how they prepared for a grizzly hunt as if they were going on the war path against neighboring tribes and would not think of challenging the bear with fewer than six to eight warriors and the likelihood that one or two of their number would not survive the encounter. On Monday, April 29th, 1805, Lewis recorded the following after the group’s first close encounter near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers,
“… the Indians may well fear this animal equipped as they generally are with their bows and arrows of indifferent fuzees, but in the hand of skillful rifle men they are by no means as formidable or dangerous as they have been represented.”
By this comment Lewis exhibits a quality of confidence, if not arrogance, shared by intrepid explorers everywhere that feel virtually invincible. This feeling of superiority depended on their own physical qualities, character and experience, not to mention their Kentucky flintlocks. Lewis recognized the differences between the eastern black bear, of his and his fellow’s experience and this animal. Lewis described the beast killed on that date,
“… it was a male not fully grown, we estimated his weight at 300 lbs. not having the means of ascertaining it precisely. The legs of this bear are somewhat longer than those of the black, as are it’s tallons and tusks incomparably larger and longer.”
Though far from the first description of a grizzly, this is the first detailed one. Henry Kelsey, in 1691, was probably the first white man to see a grizzly.
It was not only the physical characteristics that separated this bear from his eastern cousins, but its temperament and attitude toward men. A child with a stick could easily frighten off the timid black bear, while this giant carnivore of the western plains was used to having his own way and feared no living creature including man and was more likely to attack especially when provoked. Sgt. Patrick Gass wrote,
“The natives call them white, but they are more of a brown grey. They are longer than the common black bear, and have much larger feet and talons.”
Lewis and Clark and their men became believers when they met a much larger specimen on May 5th. Clark wrote,
“The river rising & current Strong & in the evening we saw a Brown or Grizzly beare on a sand beech, I went out with one man Geo Drewyer & killed the bear, which was verry large and a turrible looking animal, which we found very hard to kill we Shot ten Balls into him before we killed him, & 5 of those Balls through his lights. This animal is the largest of the carnivorous kind l ever saw”
Lewis’ description was more detailed,
“It was the most tremendious looking anamal, and extremely hard to kill notwithstanding he had five balls through his lungs and five others in various parts he swam more than half the distance across the river to a sandbar, & it was at least twenty minutes before he died: he did not attempt to attack, but fled and made the most tremendous roaring from the moment he was shot. We had no means of weighing this monster; Capt. Clark thought he would weigh 500 lbs. for my part I think the estimate too small by 100 lbs. he measured 8 Feet 7 1/2 Inches from the nose to the extremety of the hind feet, 5 F. 10 1/2 Ins. arround the breast.” The following day Lewis wrote, “I find the curiossity of our party is pretty well satisfyed with rispect to this anamal, the formidable appearance of the male bear killed on the 5th added to the difficulty with which they die when even shot through the vital parts, has staggered the resolution (of) several of them, others however seem keen for action with the bear; I expect these gentlemen will give us some amusement shortly as they (the bears) soon begin now to coppolate.”
Amusement was probably not the word that came to mind as several of the party were forced to flee after discharging their single~shot rifles and seeing little effect, besides enraging the bears, as described in the journal of Sgt. John Ordway.
“Saturday 11th May 1805 …one of the party which had a lame hand was walking on Shore. towards evening he came running and hollowing to the perogues chased by a brown bair which he had wounded, bad. Some of the hunters went out with him and killed it. It was nearly of the Same description as the one killed Some days past, but much fatter.” Then on the 14th Ordway reported, “… abt. 4oClock the men in the canoes Saw a large brown bear on the hills on the S.S. 6 men went out to kill it. they fired at it and wounded it. it chased 2 of them into a canoe, and anoth(er) (into) the River and they Steady fireing at after shooting eight balls, in his body Some of them through the lites, he took the River and was near catching the Man he chased in, but he went up against the Stream and the bear being wounded could not git to him one of the hunters Shot him in the head which killed him dead. we got him to Shore with a canoe and butchred him we found him to be nearly the Same discription of the first we killed only much larger.”
As the expedition continued westward they had several more hair-raising adventures with Mr. Grizzly. (Source material: “The Journals of Lewis & Clark”, Bernard DeVoto, “The Journals of Patrick Gass,” “The Journals of John Ordway”, Undaunted Courage, Stephan E. Ambrose, 1996)
Reprinted with permission from “Outlaw News”, a publication of Missouri River Country.
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