Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Lewis, and Clark Expedition?

I would have done it. Probably wouldn't have survived or went mad like Lewis. Yeah, would've been killed by bandits along the Natchez Trace. Shame that...

Quite a few of the men went back west shortly after the trip. A number of them died out there. Some made their own history like John Colter who discovered Yellowstone. Clark's crew just missed it on the return trip.

Undaunted Courage is a fascinating read.
The hard cover version includes more than the soft back if one can still locate a copy.

An excellent book!

I read a big book on the expedjtion written by a professor at UNO. Hauling and poling boats upstream from MO to MT does not sound fun or something I would want to do.

Only if I could bang Sacagawea...

Their first encounter with a Grizzly was comical.

They figured that the portage around the Great Falls in MT would take a few days. It took a few weeks. They wore out their moccasins on sharp rocks.


History records that she apparently had a great personality. It says nothing about her appearance. Sounds like some blind dates I've had.

It is in Devoto’s edition of the journals. It was Cruzatte who mistook Lewis for an elk.

Imagine the smell of an unbathed Indian girl.
Also Syphilis was apparently a problem on that long camping trip. Wonder if they picked it up out west or brought it with them?

After the trip, Lewis sort of went nuts. No one knows for sure if he was murdered or committed suicide. There's evidence both ways. It's speculated that he might have been in the later stages of syphilis which can affect the brain. The disease goes through a latent period with no symptoms. That period can last from a year to decades. They spent quite a bit of time in St Louis while getting outfitted. He could have easily caught it in a brothel and been in a full blown final stage on their return 3 years later.

It's also said that...

After the expedition, Jefferson appointed Lewis as Governor of Louisiana. It was a mistake because Lewis was not a politician. He started buying and selling land, and he began drinking very heavily. He sank into a depression. His creditors demanded that he pay his debts, and Lewis became a physical wreck due to drugs (to treat malaria) and alcohol. He committed suicide in 1809. It was a very unfortunate end for a man who had great character and was an excellent leader.

Brought it with them. See my earlier post above referencing the pill of white mercury.

They spent the winter holed up with the Mandans. The Mandans had never seen a negro and they thought the slave York had magical powers, he reminded them of a buffalo. The Indians thought they could capture some of that power if York had sex with their wife.

Many a night a Mandan stood outside his lodge, while York was inside having sex with his wife.

Apparently, especially in the NW, there was also quite the flea and rodent issue in some native lodges. As well as all the other vermin that go with them.

One site they came upon they speculated the locals abandoned the whole village due to the flea infestation

Great book

Agreed. Well worth the time and money.

You were in my backyard and never called? I am so disappointed.

They didn't pick the easiest way to go. The south pass in WY wasn't discovered yet. That's the route later used by the Oregon Trail. It made crossing the Rockies possible by wagon. Of course they were looking for a water route to the Pacific and none exists.

Wasn’t it Jedediah Smith or some of his brigade redited with finding the south pass?