With Drouillard and the two Field brothers, Lewis continues his June 1805 exploration of the Marias River hoping to find its source north of the 50th parallel. They find that it flows south of the 49th. Heading back, they come across a small group of young Blackfeet, and the encounter turns fatal. Both groups flee.
The Marias River Risk
"Of highest national importance"
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Why was it so important that Meriwether Lewis was willing to risk his life in a region occupied by the “Pahkees” or Minnetares, the Assiniboines, and other people whom he had been led—by their enemies, of course—to believe were “vicious and illy disposed”?
The Marias River by Air
Narrow escape
by Joseph A. Mussulman
“I sliped at a narrow pass of about 30 yards in length and but for a quick and fortunate recovery by means of my espontoon I should have been precipitated into the river down a craggy pricipice of about ninety feet.”
The Golden Triangle
Fur, oil, and wheat
Lewis’s two trips on the Marias River were in an area called by early Montana pioneers the golden triangle consisting of fur, oil, water, wheat, and dinosaur bones.
The Bears Paw Mountains
And the Sweet Grass Hills
by Joseph A. Mussulman
By his 5 June 1805 estimate, Meriwether Lewis was 38 miles up the Marias River from the expedition’s camp on the Missouri. To the northeast, he identified the Bears Paw Mountains and Sweet Grass Hills.
Naming the Marias
"in honour of Miss Maria"
by Joseph A. Mussulman
“The whole of my party to a man except myself were fully perswaided that this river was the Missouri, but being fully of opinion that it was neither . . . I determined to give it a name and in honour of Miss Maria W____d.”
Synopsis Part 5
Fort Clatsop to St. Louis
by Harry W. Fritz
On 23 March 1806, once again battling the rising spring runoff, as it had each of the two previous years on the Missouri, the Corps of Discovery started up the Columbia River towards home.
Dividing Forces at Travelers’ Rest
Their daring tactical plan
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Dividing into as many as five separate details was part of a bold, diplomatic plan to achieve three of the objectives set by President Jefferson.
July 16, 1806
Off to the Marias
Lewis heads to the Marias River while Gass prepares wagon trucks above the Great Falls. Clark moves down the Yellowstone River by horse and Ordway paddles through the Gates of the Mountains.
The Two Medicine Formation
Dinosaur country
by Joseph A. Mussulman
During his trips on the Marias in June 1805 and 1806, had he not been continually on the lookout for signs of those hostile Blackfeet Indians, Lewis just might have seen some fossils of marine shellfish.
Camp Disappointment
The northernmost extent
by Joseph A. Mussulman
In 1806, Lewis, Drouillard, Joe Field, and Reubin Field made a second excursion up the Marias, this time on horseback. The four men reached the northernmost point of the Expedition’s exploration on 22 July 1806, camping on the south side of today’s Cut Bank Creek.
July 26, 1806
A Blackfeet interview
On the Two Medicine River, Lewis is joined by several young Blackfeet. All of Pryor’s horses are stolen, and the portage of the Great Falls of the Missouri is completed. Clark explores the Bighorn River.
July 27, 1806
Fight with the Blackfeet
Lewis has a fatal fight with the Blackfeet, Ordway paddles down the Missouri, Gass takes horses to the Teton River, Clark paddles through the Yellowstone Badlands, and Pryor is stranded without horses.
Fight on the Two Medicine
An "accedental interview"
by Joseph A. Mussulman
The Indians invited the Americans to share a campsite that night. At daybreak, despite the soldiers’ watchfulness, the Indians tried to steal the Americans’ guns and horses. That immediately erupted into a skirmish.
July 28, 1806
Joining forces
Lewis ends his overnight flight by joining the men who are taking the boats and horses to the mouth of the Marias. Clark paddles down a gentle Yellowstone, and Pryor is near Pompeys Pillar making bull boats.
July 29, 1806
White Cliffs rain
On this rainy day, Lewis paddles through White Cliffs. His hunters bag nine bighorn sheep. Clark, slowed by headwinds, reaches the Tongue River. Now far behind Clark, Sgt. Pryor has failed his mission.
August 4, 1806
Willard swept away
During the night, Pvt. Willard is swept down the Missouri. Further downriver, Clark moves his group to escape the mosquitoes. Sgt. Pryor finds that his two bull boats can handle the Yellowstone rapids.
August 6, 1806
Pryor takes Clark's note
On or near this date, Pryor takes Clark’s note meant for Lewis delaying the captains’ reunion. Near present Williston, Clark moves very little as he waits for Lewis who passes the Poplar River on this day.
August 11, 1806
Cruzatte shoots Lewis
Lewis is shot through the buttock. An Indian attack is suspected, but likely Pvt. Cruzatte mistook him for an elk. Clark meets fur traders who share news of the barge, the fur trade, and Indian wars.
Reunion
Lewis and Pryor catch up
by Joseph A. Mussulman
After splitting up into five separate details over five weeks earlier, all the members of the Corps of Discovery were finally reunited 142 miles downriver from the mouth of the Yellowstone.
Wheeler on the Marias
Meeting a Blackfeet survivor
by Barbara Fifer, Joseph A. Mussulman
Traveling through the Marias River country with anthropologist George Bird Grinnell, Wheeler met Wolf Calf, one of the Indian survivors of Lewis’s encounter with the Blackfeet.
