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Published: November 1st 2023
As previously noted, Lewis and Clark were pessimistic about their ability to continue the Jefferson River as a transportation route for very long after leaving the Missouri Headwaters Confluence. They started looking for alternatives, splitting up to make the exploration shorter. By now it was late August and they were afraid of getting caught in the mountains in winter storms. Clark went up the larger Salmon River, even though the Native Americans had told them it was not navigable. Clark ultimately had to admit the wisdom of that analysis. Lewis went up the Big Hole, where one canoe capsized and two others were swamped, forcing them to stop and dry out their gear. Leaving the Big Hole, Lewis then tried going up the Beaverhead. This turned out to be non-navigable as well, but they finally managed to meet up with some Shoshones, from whom they hoped to purchase horses to carry goods over the mountains, and to serve as sources of food in extreme conditions.The Shoshones, although suspicious that they were being led into an ambush, agreed to accompany them back to their previous campsite at a place they called Camp Fortunate. Clark was to rejoin them there as well.
Meriwether: "When we got back to Camp Fortunate, Capt. Clark was not yet there, and this raised even more suspicion among the Shoshones. But the next day Capt. Clark and his men showed up, and to my astonishment Sakakawea hesitated a moment, then ran up to the chief of the Shoshone band and started hugging him. It turned out that he was her brother! As we immediately hoped, this helped much in negotiations for horses. The Indians did not have enough horses to provide us with all we wanted, but they sold us what they could spare and persuaded another tribe to provide us with some more. They also provided us with an old man named Toby to act as our guide. He was generally very helpful, although on one occasion he would lead us on a much longer route than was necessary. We sank the canoes in a pond so they would be protected from high water from the river and from the fires the Indians sometimes set. We loaded up the horses and set off across the fifth range of mountains. At Lemhi Pass we came to the ultimate headwaters of the Missouri. A small spring bubbled up
and a rivulet ran downhill. We took some time enjoying standing astride the Missouri, for the rivulet was so small you could put a foot on each side easily. We stood atop Lemhi Pass and looked out on what we hoped were the last mountains we would need to pass.Further on we came to a creek we named Horseshoe Bend Creek, and tasted our first water in the Columbia River system. Standing atop Lemhi Pass, we paused momentarily to realize that not only were we crossing the Continental Divide, but that we were crossing over the western boundary of the United States, and for the rest of our outbound journey would be in a foreign land."
Like the members of the expedition, we crossed over Lemhi Pass, taking a good gravel road that generally followed the path the expedition had taken up to the pass on the Montana side and down on the Idaho side. Just downslope of the pass summit, we stood astride the mighty Missouri. The area is in a beautiful flowered meadow. Along the path was a pine tree that was largely hollowed out, though still alive, and we watched for a few minutes the comings
and goings of thousands of bees that were making their home in the cavity. Nearby was a statue to Sakakawea. The negative side of this part of the trip was the dust that settled so thickly on the car that we had to take it through a car wash that evening before we dared to even open the trunk to remove luggage. The plus side was that in our hybrid Honda we average over 200 mpg on the downhill.
Leaving Lemhi Pass, we proceeded on to Bannock State Park. In July 1862 gold was found in Grasshopper Creek, previously named Willard's Creek by Lewis and Clark. The town of Bannack soon grew to accommodate the miners, and swelled to a population of 3000 by the next spring. A judge was appointed by the US government but never took the oath of office. He stood quietly by while a group of Vigilantes captured and hung the sheriff and his deputies after they were discovered to be running a criminal ring. The town was populated mostly with single men, although there were some families. Hurry Gurdy Girls (who sold dances with the miners for 50 cents to a dollar) and prostitutes
were readily available, with some overlap between the two groups of women entertainers. Gold was initially mined using placer techniques, but eventually progressed to dredging and then to hard rock mining. The prohibition of mining of non-essential minerals during World war II spelled the final death knell for the town. The post office closed in1938 and the school in 1950. It now stands abandoned as a ghost town remnant of the first capital of the Montana Territory, and is maintained as a state park.
We continued on to Missoula, where we would say goodbye to Lucie as she flew back.
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