The Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark, Vol 7: From the Pacific to the Rockies

by Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Gary E. Moulton (Editor)

Since the time of Columbus, explorers dreamed of a water passage across the North American continent. President Thomas Jefferson shared this dream. He conceived the Corps of Discovery to travel up the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains and westward along possible river routes to the Pacific Ocean. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led this expedition of 1804–6. Along the way they filled hundreds of notebook pages with observations of the geography, Indian tribes, and natural history of the trans-Mississippi West. After a rainy winter, the Corps of Discovery turned homeward in March 1806 from Fort Clatsop on the mouth of the Columbia River. Detained by winter snows, they camped among the friendly Nez Perces in modern west-central Idaho. Lewis and Clark attended to sick Indians and continued their scientific observations while others in the party hunted and socialized with Native peoples.

383 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

Meriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark, whose mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Corps began their return trip from the mouth of the Columbia River with this volume, at first by canoe, then by horse and foot. The journalists recorded encounters with many of the same tribes they met on their outbound travels. Most notably, America’s number one dog, Seaman, was dognapped. In what must have been the tensest moment in this entire tale to date, the Captains sent out an armed posse to recover our favorite canine, who also informed the Indian abductors they would be killed if they tried any further skullduggery. Our national Newfoundland was saved!

Before advancing into higher elevations, the Corps held up among the most amiable “Choppunish” for several weeks, waiting for the mountain snows to melt. There, they tended to the assorted medical needs of countless natives, many apparently suffering the effects of the Louis veneri. One of the chiefs, who was paralyzed, was treated with repeated visits to a primitive sauna, where a sunken pit was heated, the fire removed, a seat inserted, and the pit covered with blankets, whereby he was remarkably cured.

The men ate plenty dog and horse on this trek, as well as the occasional deer or bear. They never really acclimated to the vegetables and roots so essential to native nutrition. While some fish were present at times, they didn’t seem to have been of such abundance, nor of sufficient taste, to become a principal component of the team’s diet; the Corps of Discovery were red meat eaters for sure; their dietary preference was buffalo, however, there were none to be found in their trek west of the Rockies. Interestingly, the men never once saw a moose on their entire trip.

This is great stuff! One more volume and they’re home.