Day-by-Day / October 21, 1804

October 21, 1804

Autumn's first snow

At sunrise near the Heart River, it begins to snow. Clark learns that river’s significance to the Mandan Nation and sees a tree used for Sun Dances. They camp near present Mandan, North Dakota.

Snow at Daylight

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

Missouri River near Mandan, North Dakota

View northeast; river flows left to right

Fresh snow on the banks of the Missouri River

The effect of fresh autumn snow was generated by Kristopher K. Townsend from an original photograph taken in July and with the assistance of artificial intelligence, © 2013 and 2024. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Morning Snow

at Day light it began to Snow and Continud all the fore part of the Day
—William Clark

Heart River

passed just above our Camp a Small river on the L. S. Called by the Indians Chiss-Cho-tar . . . . Some Distance up this River is Situated a Stone which the Indians have great fath in & Say they See painted on the Stone, [“]all the Calemites & good fortune to hapin the nation & partes who visit it”
—William Clark

Clark learned this information from Arikara chief, Too Né (Eagle Feather).

Sun Dance

I saw a Single tree in the open Plains which the Mandans formerly paid great Devotion to run Cords thro their flesh & tie themselves to the tree to make them brave
—William Clark

 

Weather Diary

Thermot. at sun symbol rise Weather Wind at sun symbol rise thermotr. at 4 P.M. Weather Wind at 4 oC P.M.
31 snow N. W. 34 snow N W

—Meriwether Lewis[2]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “day of the month” column and spelled out some of the abbreviations.

Related: Thermometers and Temperatures | Weather Observations

Notes

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 To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “day of the month” column and spelled out some of the abbreviations.

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.

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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).