On the Northern Nez Perce Trail, fallen trees slow progress while deeper and deeper snowbanks appear. They encamp at Horsesteak Meadow on Hungery Creek where Clark shot a stray horse last fall. Lewis prepares two plant specimens, Oregon boxleaf (Paxistima myrsinites) and sticky currant (Ribes viscosissimum).
Deeper and Deeper Snow
by Yellowstone Public Radio[1]Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © … Continue reading
Fine Grass and Camas
Small Prairie Camp
© 22 June 2008 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
An Early Start
We collected our horses very readily this morning, took breakfast and set out at 6 A. M.; proceeded up the creek [Eldorado Creek] about 2 miles through some handsom meadows of fine grass abounding with quawmash [Camas]
—Meriwether Lewis
Deeper and Deeper Snow
Painting created by Split Rock Studios, Sioux City, Iowa. Original in the collection of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and photographed by Kristopher K. Townsend.
Deeper and Deeper Snow
we set out and continued our rout though a thick wood much obstructed with fallen timber, and intersepted by many steep ravines and high hills. the snow has increased in quantity so much that the greater part of our rout this evening was over the snow which has become sufficiently firm to bear our horshes, otherwise it would have been impossible for us to proceed as it lay in immence masses in some places 8 or ten feet deep. we found much difficulty in pursuing the road as it was so frequently covered with snow.
—Meriwether Lewis
The Trail through Horsesteak Meadow
© 29 June 2009 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Horsesteak Meadow
we arrived early in the evening at the place that Capt. C. [Clark] had killed and left the flesh of a horse for us last September. here is a small glade in which there was some grass, not a sufficiency for our horses but we thought it most advisable to remain here all night as we apprehended if we proceeded further we should find less grass.
—Meriwether Lewis
Hungery Creek at Horsesteak Meadow
© 29 June 2009 by N. Jo Ann Townsend. All rights reserved.
Hungery Creek
Hungry creek is but small at this place but is deep and runs a perfect torrent; the water is perfectly transparent and as cold as ice.
—Meriwether Lewis
Oregon Boxleaf Specimen
Rocky mountain[s] Jun 16th 1806.
—Meriwether Lewis[2]Paxistima myrsinites. Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 119a.
Sticky Currant Specimen
Fruit indifferent & gummy The hights of the Rocky mountain. Jun: 16th 1806.
—Meriwether Lewis[3]Ribes viscosissimum. Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 152.
Weather Diary
State of the weather at rise
Wind at State of the weather at 4 P.M. Wind at 4 P.M. fair after cloudy S E cloudy after fair S E on the tops of the hills the dog tooth violet is just in bloom grass about 2 inches high small Huckkleberry just puting fourth it’s leaves &c.
—Meriwether Lewis[4]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is omitted and some abbreviations have been spelled out.
Notes
| ↑1 | Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © 2003 by Yellowstone Public Radio. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Paxistima myrsinites. Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 119a. |
| ↑3 | Ribes viscosissimum. Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 152. |
| ↑4 | To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is omitted and some abbreviations have been spelled out. |
Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
- The Capital Gallery (Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation)
- Yellowstone Public Radio
Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).