The History On May 14, 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St Louis, heading up the Missouri River on their 2 ½-year expedition to explore and chart the lands recently acquired through the Louisiana Purchase, and to seek a “Northwest Passage” to the Pacific Ocean. On April 17, 1805, almost one year later, they made camp at Short Creek, in what is now North Dakota, one mile from our campground at Lewis and Clark State Park. Sixteen months later on their return trip, they made camp at Tobacco Garden Bay, just across the Missouri River from the Park. It was here that Lewis was mistaken for an elk and shot right in the butt by Pierre Cruzatte, one of his men, who was blind in one eye and near-sighted in the other. While he survived
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