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The Beginning
All the men say goodbye to their families as the expedition takes off. -
First Indian encounter
Lewis and Clark meet the Oto and Missouri Indian tribes. Their first encounter with the Natives was good as they exchanged greetings and gifts. -
Bad encounter with the Sioux
As they were warned by the Yankton Sioux, the men had a threatening encounter by the Teton Sioux. The Teton were not pleased with the gifts that the men brought and almost ended the journey as both sides drew their weapons. Thankfully, both sides backed down and went their seperate ways but still remained enemies. -
Sacagawea
Lewis and Clark meet a pregnant 17 year old Indian girl from the Shoshone tribe who is pregnant. Sacagawea joins them on their jouney and is a major role for them because she helps the men with their encounters with other Indians, the harsh landscape and guiding them to their destination. -
First Winter
Four days after the first snowfall, the men reached the Mandan Tribe in what is now North Dakota and set up camp. They experience temperatures below zero degrees farenheit and learned about how to gather meat in these conditions. Here they had help from the Mandan and Hidatsa Tribes and learned a lot about the west from them. When spring finally came, they sent a group of men back to St. Louis with all of their findings they had so far. -
Fork in the river
The men became concerned when they came up on a fork in the river that could lead them into two different directions. The men argued on which way to go and they knew that they could not afford to make a mistake. The men split up and the two teams went their seperate ways to find out which way they needed to go. -
The Great Falls
On this day, Lewis became the first white man to see the Falls. He discovered that instead of it being one great waterfall as the Indians had described, he found that it was actually five seperate falls that stretched over 12 miles. He now realized that the task to get around these falls was going to be much harder than he had planned, This would delay their trip for another month. June 16 Lewis rejoined with Clark and the other men and days later they began their long journey around the falls. -
Meeting the Shoshone Tribe
The closer the men got to the mountains, they realized that their journey was going to be much harder and that they needed horses to succeed. The Mandan's had told them that the Shoshone Tribe lived up here and had horses, but they had yet to see any until this day. Lewis spotted an Indian on horseback. He led the group of men to his chief who happened to be Sacagawea's brother. After negotiation, the men got their horses and learned about a trail that led through the Continental Divide. -
Through the Rockies
This was the hardest part of the journey for these men. Game was scarce so the food supply ran low. Some of the men resorted to eating the colts. Finally, the passes over the other side of the Divide and were heading down towards the Bitteroot Valley. Here they met a group of Flathead Indians and bought more horses. 11 days later, they finally broke through the mountains and set up camp next to Clearwater River. -
Reaching the Ocean
After traveling on the Columbia for a few days, Clark though that he spotted the Ocean! Unfortunately, it ended up being an estuary of the Columbia. The coast was still 20 miles away. Fierce storms kept them in place for another three weeks. Finally, in the middle of November, the men reached the Pacific Ocean and set up camp for the on coming winter. -
The journey of return
After weeks of preperation and careful planning, the men began packed up and began their journey back to St. Lois. -
Home at last
Two years, four months and 10 days after their departure, the men returned to their homes in St. Louis, safe and sound and with plent to tell. Their journey across the unknown will always be an important part of history.
