Lewis and Clark Trail Photographs

Lewis and Clark in Idaho, September 1805, June-July 1806

The Lewis and Clark Expedition first entered Idaho over Lemhi Pass. Immediately, and to Lewis' relief, they encountered the Lemhi Shoshone, Sacagawea's people whom they hoped to trade with for horses to take them overland. One cannot emphasize enough the importance of the tribes willingness to ultimately do business with the expedition. The expedition was in dire need of horses. The Lemhi's who had little experience trading with whites were initially relatively easy to bargain with although they quickly began to understand the importance of their horses and adjusted prices accordingly. It was here also that Sacagawea played her singular most important role. The Lemhi were her people, she had been reunited with her family, her brother Cahmeahwait was an important chief among them. She knew the language and thus could interpret for the two parties. Cahmeahwait, who was intent on getting his people east to hunt buffalo was reluctant to trade many horses. In the end, the Shoshones did set them up with horses and both party's went the ways amicably.

The captains pressed the indians for an easy route through the mountains and it soon became apparent that there was no easy trail. The chain of mountains they viewed to the west as they crossed Lemhi Pass was not going to be a short convenient crossing. The idea of an easy portage over a small mountain range, the famed "Northwest Passage", died here. The captains pressed for proof that the nearby Salmon River could not carry them easily downstream as the Indians indicated. Clarks reconnaissance proved their statements to be true. The Salmon, even in late summer was much to rough of a river for them, they would have to go overland. The indians suggested a route to the north and it was decided that the expedition would take that route. A man they called "Toby" volunteered as their guide.

Their first taste of the mountains would be near today's Lost Trail Pass on the Montana/Idaho border. They battled rough, steep ground, horses went lame, some fell causing damage to some of their equipment, some gave out. The weather varied between snow and rain, yet this was only a harbinger of what was yet to come. A few days later after a nice easy ride up the Bitterroot Valley in Montana the expedition camped at the foot of the Bitterroot Mountains. Ahead was over a week of battling their way through the mountains on what today is known as the Lolo Trail.

With the season getting late they started up into the mountains. Travel became work right away. They encountered today's Lolo Hot Springs. The second day found them on Lolo Pass, in a meadow with a stream they coined "Glade Creek", today's Packers Meadow. Setting out from there the following day they descended into the Lochsa River drainage not knowing that their guide had taken them to a fishing hole instead of up on the high ridges that were followed to traverse the mountains. The weather was starting to go bad; with little food they killed a colt to eat. This camp is the site of today's Powell Ranger Station. The next day they had to climb the mountainside to gain the main trail. Rain was falling, they battled fallen trees, very steep ground, horses were slipping and falling, one took a tumble down the mountainside but survived; Clarks wooden desk did not. The following morning they awoke to wet snow, with more still falling.

They were now high on the spine of one of the many long ridges that traverse the Bitterroot Mountains in Idaho. For the next several days they would make their way along a trail covered in snow, battling the bad weather, lack of food; this was a true wilderness crossing. It would be several days before they would arrive at a point on a high western ridge and look out to the horizon and see the distant Weippe prairie; a scene that gave them hope that they would escape from the tangle of ridges and deep valleys.

Clark set out ahead of the main party with a small group hoping to find the route and food for those that followed. He would make the initial contact with a small band of Nez Perce camped on Weippe Prairie. With the rest of the expedition coming, all were famished and tired from the crossing. The Indians offered them food, dried Salmon and Camas which they heartily consumed only to suffer severe gastrointestinal problems that left them sick and "laying by the road". They would eventually survive this too and were soon on the Clearwater River near Orofino making new canoes that would take them downstream to their goal, the ocean. The descent of the Clearwater River was a series of whitewater adventures that often found them slamming into rocks in rapids, upsetting the canoes, rescuing wet baggage and one another, laying over to dry everything out; preparing for the next dunking. As they went on on the river eventually flattened out and travel became less hazardous. They would ride the Clearwater River to its junction with the Snake which would take them on to the Columbia River. To relieve their gastrointestinal distress the majority of the party developed a taste for dog meat which was in plentiful supply among the Indians along the river. Often trading for several at a time, one wonders who was assigned the job of commandeering a boat load of mongrels down river and what Lewis' dog thought while the men consumed his kind for supper every night?