The Great Portage

After many months sailing up the missouri river, we finally reached the great falls that the indians at Fort Mandan told us about. But after the half-day portage we realized that there was another waterfall. So we were very puzzled. Then after the second there was a third, and on and on. The portages took days in some cases, and are good moccasins sometimes wouldn't last a good two days without repair. Even our good dog seaman was feeling the pain from the thorns all over the ground. After a hole entire month we finally reached the end of our last portage around the last waterfall. I still can't believe it took us a hole month to just travel 18 miles, but it will be 18 miles that the crew and I will never forget.

June, 1805

Captain Lewis

The animal of the Week (the buffalo)

As we moved through the great plains and valleys of the missouri, we encountered many large herds of buffalo, The herds had numbers in the 1000'2, and stretched many mils long and wide. For one time. on june 3, 1805, we encountered a large herd in the thousands. The buffalo were herded by the wolves and also picked off by them. Some of the buffalo weighed over 2000 pounds, and were six feet tall at the shoulders. The buffalo had dark thick fur, and were fast runners. But with our great riffles they were easy to spot, and catch. So at the end of the day the men and I were for the most part happy. 

Captain Lewis 

Other Animal of the Week

21 October 1804

The deer

The white-tailed deer, also known as the Virginia deer, or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to all but five states in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and northern portions of South America as far south as Peru. It has also been introduced to New Zealand and some countries in Europe such as Finland and Czech Republic.

Animal of the Week - Prairie Dog

21 October 1804

Prairie dogs are small, burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. There are five different species of prairie dogs: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison, Utah, and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel. On average, these stout-bodied rodents will grow to be between 12–16 in. long, including the short tail and weigh between 0.5–1.5 kilograms (1–3 lb). They are found in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In Mexico, prairie dogs are primarily found in the northern states which are the southern end of the great plains: northeastern Sonora, north and northeastern Chihuahua, northern Coahuila, northern Nuevo León, and northern Tamaulipas; in the U.S., they range primarily west of the Mississippi River, though they have also been introduced in a few eastern locales. They will eat all sorts of vegetables and fruits.

Men Get Out Of Hand

On he 20th of August 1804.

Recently several of are men have been getting lashings because of there behavior. John Collins received 100 lashings for being drunk on duty earlier on the expedition. Alexander Willard got 100 lashings for sleeping at his post, and Hugh Hall deserved and got 50 for steeling whisky. But now after their punishments they have been a great help on our ongoing expedition to the west and unknown. 

 Louis

Floyd Dies

Three months into are trip and 1000 miles up the great river I woke up and realized that Floyd was very sick and vomiting. We realized that this vomiting and sickness could be life threatening. We tried everything we could to make him better, but the next day we lost the good man. It appeared that floyd had a ruptured appendix. It was one of the worst things that has happened on this trip so far.