Arising early, we soon got to see the most glorious view - Williston in our rear view mirror. When we temporarily let the story of Lewis and Clark, they had built a log fort just downstream of the Mandan villages. It was a cold winter, and they subsisted on what game they could shoot and corn shared with them by the Mandans. As soon as river conditions allowed, they sent the keelboat back down the Missouri carrying maps , notes, and biological specimens obtained up to that point. The keelboat had been invaluable in carrying large amounts of equipment, trade goods, and foodstuffs, but they knew all along that they would have to abandon it at the Mandan villages. River conditions beyond that point simply would not allow for use of such a large, heavy, and
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