Cultural Observations

A Day’s Halt at Travelers’ Rest and the Flathead Encounter

1805-09-10

The Corps spent September 10, 1805 in camp at Travelers' Rest, near present-day Lolo, Montana,…

Crossing the Koos-koos-ke: Bears, Horse Surgery, and a Six-Thumbed Trophy

1806-05-14

May 14–15, 1806 at Camp Chopunnish on the Koos-koos-ke: four pens on the crossing, bear…

Diet Across the Expedition: A Seasonal Analysis

What the journals actually feed the partyAn earlier version of this page said the diet…

Six Languages and a Gugling Tongue: Encountering the Flathead Salish at Ross’s Hole

1805-09-05

The expedition's encounter with the Flathead Salish at Ross's Hole on September 5, 1805 is…

The Chippewa (Ojibwe) in the Lewis & Clark Record: Named, Not Encountered

Named, not encounteredNo Chippewa (Ojibwe) town sits on the expedition's track. The journals still use…

The Flathead Salish: Allies in the Bitterroot

First Encounter at Ross's HoleThe Flathead Salish — called "Tushepaws," "Flatheads," or "Ootlashshoots" in the…

The Shawnee Nation in the Lewis & Clark Record

A thin record, not an empty oneThe Corps did not travel through Shawnee towns on…

The Yakama Nation in the Lewis & Clark Journals: A Brief Encounter at the Great Confluence

IntroductionThe Yakama (also rendered historically as Yakima) are one of the great Sahaptin-speaking nations of…

How the Americans Lived (Maniere de vivre des Americains)

c. 1780s

"The behavior of the Americans in society, and their way of life, have so little…