Third Range of Mountains
On July 31, the Expedition reached the third range of mountains which forms another close canyon. They were out of fresh meat. No game was killed on this day; indeed, no buffalo had been seen since entering the mountains. Lewis wrote: “When we have plenty of fresh meat I find it impossible to make the men take any care of it or use it with the least frugallity. Tho' I expect that necessity will probably teach them this art,”

On Aug. 1, Lewis, and three men, went ahead in search of Indians. Near his camp on the morning of Aug. 3, Clark discovered Indian tracks which he followed to an elevation where the Indians had apparently spied on his camp. But Clark found no Indians.

By now, the arduous task of pulling the eight heavily laden dugouts was taking its toll. At one place a tow line broke, at another they were dragging the vessels over rocks, Clark wrote: “The men were so much fatiegued today that they wished much that navigation was at an end that they might go by: land.”

Lewis reached Big Hole River on Aug. 4, and after some investigation decided this was not the route the Expedition should follow. He left a note on a green willow for Clark, telling him not to go that way, but to wait there. By the time Clark's party arrived at the Big Hole River, a beaver had gnawed down the green willow upon which Lewis had left the note, and had taken off with it. Consequently, Clark's party began the difficult task of ascending the swift waters of that treacherous river. One boat turned over and two others filled with water before Lewis' party arrived and told them they would have to return to the Jefferson.

It had been 21 days since they left the Great Falls of the Missouri. The 33 travelers had used up enough provisions to warrant leaving one canoe on shore to be retrieved on me return journey.

The Beaver’s Head
A few miles below the mouth of Ruby River, Sacagawea recognized a prominent point of land known to her people as the Beaver’s Head. She informed the captains that they were not far from the summer retreat of her people, which, she said, was on a river beyond the moun-tains (Lcmhi River.)

On Aug. 9, Lewis, along with three men, again set out ahead of the main party in an attempt to find the Shoshones.

About 9 1/2 miles by water from the Beaver’s Head, the main party reached an island which they named 3000-Mile Island—a refer-ence to their distance up the Missouri River.

Reprinted from U.S. Forest Service pamphlet “Lewis and Clark in the Rocky Mountains”

Fourth Range Of Mountains
Lewis’s party, which was following an Indian road, passed through the fourth range of mountains on Aug. 10, and from the number of rattlesnakes about the cliffs called it “Rattlesnake Cliffs.” The main party entered this canyon four days later and both Clark and Sacagawea were in danger of being struck by these serpents.

Lewis continued on the Indian road, and soon came to a fork at the head of the Jefferson River. He left a note here on a dry willow to inform Clark of his decision to follow the west fork. At about 15 miles from the forks, on Horse Prairie, Lewis finally saw a Shoshone on horseback—the first Indian the Expedition had seen in 1400 miles. The native, wary of the strangers, would not allow them to approach, and soon disap-peared into the mountains.

Reprinted from U.S. Forest Service pamphlet “Lewis and Clark in the Rocky Mountains”

Fifth Range Of Mountains
Lewis fixed a small U.S. flag onto a pole as a symbol of peace, which was carried along as they followed the horse’s tracks. They camped that night at the head of Horse Prairie. They were now about to enter the fifth range of mountains.

The following morning they came upon recently inhabited willow lodges, and a place where the Indians had been digging roots. They continued on until they reached what Lewis described as “the most distant fountain of the waters of the Mighty Missouri in surch of which we have spent so many toilsome days and wristless nights. Thus far I had accomplished one of those great objects on which my mind has been unalterably fixed for many years…” He then wrote that Private McNeal “exultingly stood with a foot on each side of the little rivulet and thanked his god that he had lived to bestride the mighty & heretofore deemed endless Missouri.”

Reprinted from U.S. Forest Service pamphlet “Lewis and Clark in the Rocky Mountains”