Journal of the Corps of Discovery
May 17, 1804
It‘s
the third day of the expedition.
Our two captains are Lewis, assistant to Thomas Jefferson and our
expedition leader, and Clark, co leader. Our
surgeon is Ordway, journal writer. Our
privates are Cruzatte, fiddle player,
Shannon, youngest of the party at 16, the Field brothers, hard working men, and Shields, blacksmith and a gunsmith.
We also have York, a slave and Clark’s companion, Seaman, Lewis’ dog,
Drouillard, woodsman, and last but not least me, Chris, topographer for the
party. My
job is to map the trails. As we go
along, I make maps for the expedition and I write about what we just hiked,
walked, or boated on. I will be the
Corps member who studies and takes notes on all the mountains, prairies,
streams, rivers, and any other important part of the terrain we come across.
I enjoy my
work because I like to make maps.
We took surveyor’s compasses, hand compasses, quadrants, telescope,
thermometers, two sextants, twelve dozen pocket mirrors, forty-five flannel
shirts, coats, frocks, shoes, woolen pants, blankets, knapsacks, stockings,
fifteen prototype model 1803 muzzle loading .54 caliber rifles, knives, five
hundred rifle flints, four hundred twenty pounds of sheet lead for bullets, one
hundred seventy-six pounds of gun powder packed in fifty-two lead canisters, one
long barreled rifle that fired its bullet with compressed air, rather then by
flint, spark and powder, Barton’s
Elements of Botany, Antoine Simon Le Page du Pratz’s History of
Louisiana, and other supplies.
Its kind of fun on the expedition. Seaman
and I are good friends. He’s fun
to play with. Lewis and Clark are
the only ones who like me besides Seaman. I’m
looking forward to making more friends on the expedition.
May 25, 1804
We are traveling on our keelboat along the Missouri River.
Our boat can carry ten tons of supplies.
We have supplies in our two smaller pirogues.
Going up the river is rough. We
have to sometimes get out and push the boat over shallow areas.
Sometimes we have to push with setting poles where it is not so deep.
When there is wind is blowing, we can put up our sails.
There are times when we have to row the boat.
On a good day, we can travel fourteen miles along the river. Sometimes there are rapids and it is harder to control the
keelboat and the two smaller boats. All
of us work hard to get up the river.
We passed La Charette, a cluster of seven homes less than sixty miles from St. Louis. This is the last settlement of whites on this river. We will soon see Indians, I expect. So far, the land is flat and grassy. The Missouri River twists and turns.
Sept. 7, 1804
We have moved into that looks like a great plain, flat and very high
grasses. We started seeing coyotes,
antelopes, mule deer, and other animals. I
think that there are many animals here because there is tall grass and the prey
can’t see many of the animals easily. They
have plenty of water.
We are sending some of the animals back to President Jefferson.
We want people to see some of the animals from the west.
They are amazing.
So far, we have counted 178 plants and
122 animals that have never been recorded before.
December 25, 1804
It’s my first Christmas without my family.
I am home sick. My wife
had our baby by now.
I don’t even know the gender of the baby.
This is the worst Christmas ever. I
cannot see the faces of my kids Fred, Billy, and the new baby when they open the
presents. My foot is swelling
because I stepped on a small prickly weed.
I wish I were at home behind a roaring fire, sneaking downstairs, putting
presents under the tree, eating cookies and drinking milk, and eggnog.
April
7,
We have traveled farther than any white man has gone before on the
Missouri River. We think we will
travel 2,000 in all. We will see.
Lewis
and another hunter killed a grizzly bear. This
bear has never been recorded for science before.
They are really ferocious and nearly impossible to kill.
I am sick and tired of seeing these giant grizzly bears. They have chased us, scared us, and taught us to be careful.
There are thousands of buffalo on this great plain.
We eat about nine pounds of buffalo each day.
They are so tame that many of the men just club them to get them to move.
We
have passed the Yellowstone River, another large river.
May
29, 1805
Clark and our party come across a stream.
It is clean and pretty. We
named it after his girlfriend back in Virginia, who he hopes to marry.
June
2, 1805
We came to a fork on the river. The
men think the north fork is the Missouri River.
Lewis and Clark think we should take the south fork.
We will follow them where they tell us to go.
The Hidatsas know that if we find a big waterfall, then we are on the
right track.
June
13, 1805
We see the great falls of the Missouri, proof that Lewis and Clark were
right. Then we discovered four more
waterfalls up river. We now have to
portage, carry our boats and belongings, eighteen and a half miles to get around
the waterfalls. It is very
difficult to carry all of this stuff. Some
of us made carts from cottonwoods. We
even buried some of our supplies. We
are hauling our supplies in the broiling heat and over prickly cactus.
July
4, 1805
Hailstorms have been terrible. It
has taken us a month, double the time we thought it would take to get this far.
Today we celebrate the second Independence Day while on the trail.
We completed the portage and got back on the water.
We were dancing at night and drinking the last of our supply of whiskey.
November
7, 1805
What a beautiful sight! Waves
are breaking against the rocks. We
stand on top of this mountain that Clark has named Clark Mountain.
Lots and lots of trees are behind me.
The ocean is before me as far as I can see.
I do not see any land ahead, just water and clouds.
The sky is a deep, rich, sky blue. It
is a fresh, clear day.
I
am excited to see the west…the ocean! We
have crossed rivers, the Rocky Mountains, highlands and lowlands…it was all
worth the hiking and
rowing,
running from grizzly bears and Indians at times. We have made friends with some tribes of Indians along the
way. Now that I see the ocean in
view, I feel that I have done my duty.
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Orchard School faculty members.
This page last updated: 03/24/07 .