Into the Wilderness: The Lewis and Clark Expedition

3 Up the Missouri

3 Up the Missouri On May 14, 1804, the expedition left Camp Dubois. William Clark recorded the event in his journal. "I set out at 4 O'Clock P.M., in the presence of many of the neighboring inhabitants, and proceeded on under a gentle breeze up the Missouri," he wrote. The West awaited them. Lewis was not with them yet. He was still in St. Louis taking care of a few final matters. He joined Clark and the rest of the Corps six days later at St. Charles, a small town a short way up the Missouri. The explorers hunted, fished, and met with Indians. They collected plant and animal samples for President Jefferson. Because he wanted to learn as much as possible about the West, the president told Lewis and Clark to keep daily journals, write reports, and draw maps. To get more information, the captains ordered the sergeants to keep journals and invited the privates to do so if they wished. Seven men, maybe more, kept journals. Six of the seven journals, including those of the two captains, survive in some form today. Taking the keelboat and pirogues up the Missouri was hard work. The Missouri is a powerful river. In Lewis and Clark's day it was wild and untamed. Traveling against its current day after day wore the men out. Lewis and Clark had hired extra men because of this. If the wind was blowing from the right direction, the men could raise each boat's sail to help them 19 along. Sometimes they moved the boats upstream by rowing, poling, and towing. Towing was especially hard work. A rope was stretched from the boat to men on shore, and the men pulled the boat upriver. Such hard work made the men very hungry. They had to eat a lot to keep up their energy and strength. Each man ate an average of 8 to 12 pounds of meat a day. This meant a lot of hunting had to be done. Hunting parties were sent out almost every day to kill the game needed to feed this hungry group. The men ate deer, elk, buffalo, bear, rabbit, duck, goose, fish, and other game. This is where the "Nine Young Men from Kentucky" proved their importance. They were the main hunters. To this main diet of meat the explorers added flour, cornmeal, lard, vegetables, fruit, and other food supplies they had brought with them. They also gathered food from the land and from the Indians as they went up the river. In the evening, the men would gather around the camp fires and talk, sing, play music, and even dance if they weren't too tired. They looked forward to their daily ration of whiskey. Tobacco-for smoking and chewing-was a favorite of many of the men. On August 20, 1804, tragedy struck the Corps of Discovery. Charles Floyd, one of the young Kentuckians, had been sick. It is believed that he had appendicitis and that his appendix burst. In 1804 not even the best doctors could have done anything to help him. By the morning of August 20 he was near death. The captains did what they could to help him. Clark and York were at his side. Floyd knew the end was near. He thought of his family and wanted to say his last good-byes to them. "I am going away," he said to William Clark. "I want you to write me 20 / Pronghorn antelope, one of the animals identified by Lewis and Clark (Drawing by John Woodhouse Audubon. The Filson Historical Society) a letter." A short time later he died. With great sadness, the party buried this "young man of much merit." Charles Floyd was the only member of the expedition to die on the journey. As the Corps continued up the Missouri, they entered the Great Plains. They were now traveling through a "sea of grass." No trees could be seen for miles. They saw herds of thousands of buffalo. They saw animals, such as the pronghorn antelope, that were unknown in the United States. They called prairie dogs "barking squirrels." One day the men spent hours trying to flood a prairie dog hole but finally gave up. The men wrote 21 about these unknown animals in their journals and collected samples. Clark drew maps of the Missouri River and the country along it. Lewis collected and described...