Lewis & Clark Expedition Trail
Idaho, Montana, Washington

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Along the Lewis & Clark Trail

Feature Article By Cheeta Brown  

Captains Lewis and Clark and the Corp of Discovery had crossed the Bitterroot Mountains in the fall of 1805 suffering from cold and hunger. In the February newsletter we were traveling on U.S. Forest Service Road 100 and had visited "Pheasant Camp", about a mile down stream from the junction of Eldorado Creek and Lolo Creek.

From Pheasant Camp, Clark, who with a small group of men, preceded the main party, had hiked up a steep canyon for seven miles to a level prairie. Here they chanced upon two young Indian lads who alerted a small nearby Nez Perce village (one of two) of their coming. The men of the village were seriously considering dispatching the strange white visitors but on the advice of an old woman named Watkuweis they welcomed the strangers with salmon and camas roots to assuage their hunger. Watkuweis had been captured by another Indian tribe but was treated well by white men she had encountered and prevailed on behalf of the exploring party.

To follow the trail from the Lolo Creek Campground, follow Highway 100 up Lolo Creek and to the prairie to its junction with State Highway 11 at the town of Weippe. Here you will find information concerning the Lewis and Clark Expedition at the Discovery Center and the library. There is also signage at the site of the first Nez Perce village visited by the Corp of Discovery.

Meanwhile, Lewis and the main body of men were struggling with the terrain and the cumbersome baggage. They arrived at Pheasant Camp where they shot a wolf (coyote) a few grouse and caught crayfish in the creek staving off their hunger with a rather sparse meal. Clark, well fed by the Nez Perce, bought a pack load of dried salmon and flour made from the camas root and sent it back to Captain Lewis and his men with Reuben Fields. Captain Lewis arrived on the prairie two days later on Sept. 22, 1805. But, all was not well, the entire party was violently ill with a type of dysentery, assumed to be from their change of diet from heavy quantities of meat to fish and vegetables. Most of the men were ill for more than five days and only with the addition of dog meat to the diet did the work begin again on the journey west.

The expedition did not linger long on the prairie and proceeded down a steep incline to the Clearwater River where they visited a larger Nez Perce village and its chief, Twisted Hair. From this point they traveled downriver to the confluence of the Clearwater River and North Fork Clearwater where Clark, as Lewis was still gravely ill, established "Canoe Camp".

There is no way to travel the route which the expedition took from the Weippe prairie to the Clearwater River but an idea of the ruggedness of the trail can be seen and felt by following Hwy.11 from Weippe to Greer. At Greer turn downriver to Orofino and the site of Canoe Camp.

Be sure to visit the sites below while planning your next trip Along the Trail

Businesses and Information sites currently linked to the Lewis Clark NW web sites. 
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HISTORICAL SITES ALONG THE TRAIL  

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Lewis Clark NW

Come share the adventure of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial  

If you are planning a trip during the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, be sure to check out our convenient map at http://www.lewisclarknw.com/MSIEPage.htm  to find additional places of interest as well as accommodations as you plan your route.

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Along the Lewis & Clark Trail is brought to you each month by the staff at Clearwater Web Solutions with the assistance of Cheeta Brown, who each month provides us with an interesting feature article.