First Encounter with a Prairie Dog Village
On September 7, 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition came across their first black-tailed prairie dog colony in what is now Boyd County, Nebraska. The men observed a sprawling four-acre village of burrows on a hillside, with the small animals sitting upright at the openings. Determined to capture one alive, they poured five barrels of river water into the holes before successfully extracting a specimen. This prairie dog was later shipped to President Jefferson and survived for a time in his White House study, becoming one of the earliest live western animals delivered to the East.
The expedition encountered their first black-tailed prairie dog town near present-day Boyd County, Nebraska. The men spent considerable time trying to capture one of the animals alive — an effort that proved remarkably difficult.
“Discovered a Village of Small animals that burrow in the grown. The Village covers about 4 acres of Ground on a Gradual decent of a hill and Contains great numbers of holes on the top of which the animals Set erect.”
They eventually tried flooding the burrows with water, pouring in five barrels from the river before finally extracting a live specimen. This prairie dog was later sent back to President Jefferson and lived for a time in his study at the White House — one of the first live specimens of western wildlife to reach the East Coast.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
The expedition encountered their first black-tailed prairie dog town near present-day Boyd County, Nebraska. The men spent considerable time trying to capture one of the animals alive — an effort that proved remarkably difficult.
"Discovered a village of small animals that burrow in the ground. The village covers about 4 acres of ground on a gradual descent of a hill and contains great numbers of holes on the top of which the animals sit erect."
They eventually tried flooding the burrows with water, pouring in five barrels from the river before finally extracting a live specimen. This prairie dog was later sent back to President Jefferson and lived for a time in his study at the White House — one of the first live specimens of western wildlife to reach the East Coast.
This modernization is AI-generated for accessibility. The original above is the authoritative version.
Entities mentioned in this entry
Auto-extracted from the entry text. Hover any entity for context.
