Idaho Story

The Corps of Discovery Through Idaho’s Native American Homeland
1805-1806
By
Carole Simon-Smolinksi

(Editor's Note: The expedition journals are full of words with phonetic spellings, which was the custom of the period. We have chosen to present these words in their author's original form rather than correct the spellings.)

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find "the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce." When the Corps of Discovery departed St. Louis in May, 1804, the party destined to cross the continent consisted of Captain Lewis and Clark, 26 volunteers and Army regulars, Clark's black slave York, and Lewis's Newfoundland dog, Seaman.

This military unit of experienced outdoorsmen followed the Missouri River through today's Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota, where they built Fort Mandan, (north of present Bismarck) and spent the winter of 1804-05.

While visiting nearby Hidatsa and Mandan villages the captains hired French trader Toussaint Charbonneau as interpreter and guide. Charbonneau's young Lemhi Shoshoni wife Sacajawea and their infant son Jean Baptiste would prove to be an asset to the expedition when it reached her native homeland in present-day Idaho. Not only were her language skills helpful, but native peoples were less suspicious of white men traveling with a native woman and her child.

By mid August, 1805 their travels brought the 31 members of the Corps of Discovery to Three Forks, Montana, headwaters of the Missouri River. From there on they needed horses to make what they thought would be an easy portage across of the Great Stoney Mountains [Rocky Mountains] to navigable headwaters of the Columbia.

They were beyond the western border of the Louisiana Purchase and for the first time entering land about which they had no knowledge. As they entered the homeland of the Lemhi Shoshoni, Salish, and Nez Perce people it would prove to be the most difficult part of their entire journey.

Expedition members had no idea how they would be received but realized with each passing mile that their success would depend upon native good will. Unfortunately linguistic and time constraints as well as cultural assumptions and misunderstanding caused expedition members to miss valuable opportunities for cultural exchange at this critical juncture of first contact.

Today, as we hear the oral histories of these tribes we better understand why the people welcomed and helped strangers in their homelands. Their stories add a dimension to our understanding of the dynamics of trade, travel, and mutual dependence, characteristics that framed the societies and eluded expedition journalists. Native encounter with the Corps of Discovery was a small passage in the bigger story.

Among the Lemhi Shoshoni (Aqui-dika) of Central Idaho

On August 9, Captain Lewis, Drouillard, Shields and McNeal left Clark and the main party behind at Three Forks and pressed ahead in search of Sacajawea’s Shoshoni people, the “Aqui-dikas.” Following a Lemhi Shoshoni hunting trail they crossed the Continental Divide [Lemhi Pass, We yah-vee] and came upon [Aqui-pah,] the headwaters of “the great Columbia river.” It was at that place they first beheld the majestic “sea of mountains”— the Bitterroots [Kannah Doya Huveed]—a totally unexpected mountainous barricade over or through which they had to pass. Reliance upon Shoshoni horses, mapping and geographic information became increasingly more apparent. But they found no Shoshoni.

Increasingly frustrated by their absence, Lewis wrote: “We begin to feel considerable anxiety with rispect to the Snake [Shoshoni] Indians. If we do not find them or some other nation who have horses I fear the successful issue of our voyage will be very doubtful....” Unknown to Lewis, during late spring and summer the people fished in the river valleys and would not return to the mountains to hunt for a month. There were however a few people in the vicinity.

After prior unsuccessful attempts to make contact the advance party came upon three women digging for wild carrots [Yump]. When they sighted the men with “faces pale as ashes” one woman fled while the elderly woman and young girl lowered their heads awaiting certain death. “...They appeared much allarmed but saw that we were to near for them to escape by flight they therefore seated themselves on ground holding down their heads as if reconciled to die which the[y] expected no doubt would be their fate...” Lewis took the older woman by the hand, gave her gifts and daubed vermilion on her face. Sacajawea had told him it was a symbol of peace. She then led the four strangers along the Lemhi trail towards a village.

Soon 60 mounted men appeared, prepared to fight. One of the men, Chief Cameahwait, talked with the woman, then walked over to Lewis, and, much to Lewis’ surprise, warmly embraced him with a “national hug.” The older woman had reassured Cameahwait in her native tongue that these men meant no harm. For among the Lemhi Shoshoni people, from time immemorial, the gift of vermilion [Bee-sha] is a sacred item and symbolizes the giver’s prayerful wish for the well being and safety of the recipient’s family and people.

Despite this initial rite of acceptance, the Lemhi Shoshonis were still apprehensive about the intent and presence of these strangers, because it was so soon after a battle with the Blackfeet [Buckee hu-uh]. Lewis could not know they were suspected of being agents for the Blackfeet, or for that matter other enemy tribes. Over the next few days he became increasingly aware of Lemhi Shoshoni mistrust.

Believing that his success in soliciting help to portage baggage across Lemhi Pass and secure horses for their continued travels depended upon his diplomatic skills, trading abilities, even intimidation tactics, Lewis was willing to promise and do anything to get that help. Cameahwait drove a hard bargain because the Lemhi Shoshoni needed American trade goods, specifically guns and ammunition to arm themselves against enemies to the east and south who already had the advanced weapons. Nonetheless, his decisions were still cautiously made to help the strangers. Later at separate times both Lewis and Clark assured them that future Americans would supply guns if the Shoshoni provided furs.

The advance party and their Lemhi Shoshoni entourage returned to the forks of the Beaverhead [Hunnee-Bumbee Gahdud] where Clark and the main party were to meet them. They were not there; suspicions mounted. On August 17, in perhaps the most serendipitous moment of the expedition, Clark, Sacajawea, and Chabonneau watched as Lewis and the Aquidika rode up to them.

Suddenly Sacajawea began to dance for joy. She recognized her brother, Chief Cameahwait, and a woman who had been captured with her in a Hidatsa raid. “Shortly after Capt Clark arrived with Interpreter Charbono, and the Indian woman, who proved to be the sister of Chief Cameahwait. The meeting of those people was really affecting, particularly between Sah-cah-gar-we-ah and an Indian woman, who had been taken prisoner at the same time with her and who, had afterwards escaped from the Minnetares and rejoined her nation" Her assurances that the Americans could be trusted, as well as her translation assistance, soothed any lingering apprehensions.

Curious about the strangers, boats, equipment, York and Lewis’ dog Seaman, the Shoshoni people warmly welcomed their guests as the parties reunited and gathered at a place called Camp Fortunate. There Lewis made preparations for the portage, a six day endeavor that gave him the opportunity to observe and record characteristics of the northern Shoshoni culture. His observations were both complimentary and clouded with his own ethnocentrism. Clark, Charbonneau, Sacajawea and eleven others returned across the Divide with Cameahwait to his village on the Lemhi River [Pah-dye]. The oral history of her people describe this event and their first sighting of her. “We saw her coming with the white men carrying her babe on her back in a wrapped willow cradleboard. She came up over a foothill which had loose shale rocks on one side. They were very careful to walk on the better side of the hill as they came down among us.”

Following their arrival Clark requested geographical information; Cameahwait provided a description of the Lemhi, Salmon, and Bitterroot Rivers as well as the Bitterroot Mountains. Sacajawea and her husband then remained in the village while Clark led his reconnaissance party to the Salmon River. They explored it from its confluence with the North Fork of the Salmon River to a point 16 1/2 miles downstream where prospects of using it to resume their water journey were abandoned. The Salmon was far too treacherous to gamble their lives on it.

Their route instead was to be by land, first traveling north across Lost Trail Pass to the Bitterroot Valley [We-yah Ma-nungwa] of western Montana, into the land of the Salish. They spent their last few days among the Shoshoni trading for horses. Outmaneuvered by superior traders, they paid dearly for the twenty-nine “sore backs...pore and young” horses. Cameahwait also paid dearly. By staying behind a few more days he further delayed his people’s trip to Three Forks to hunt buffalo, a decision that prolonged their dependence upon inadequate food reserves.

On August 30 the two groups finally parted company. The Corps of Discovery, accompanied by Lemhi Shoshoni guides, Old Toby [Tee-toby] and his son began their difficult journey north along the North Fork River of the Salmon River and on to their destination. The Shoshoni left to meet friends among the Salish and continue east.

The Salish of Bitterroot Valley

The valley of the North Fork of the Salmon grew more narrow and steep as the small party approached the pass. It snowed, rained and sleeted; the horses “were in danger of slipping to their certain destruction,” [Clark] and the men broke their last thermometer. To top it off Old Toby, for unknown reasons, led the party three miles off course. With the weather growing increasingly worse, they crossed Lost Trail Pass on the 4th of September and began their descent to the land of the Salish.

As the strangers approached a beautiful valley later known as Ross’s Hole, Three Eagles spotted them while out scouting for raiding parties. He carefully watched them, observing that they traveled without blankets and concluded they had either been robbed or, upon seeing York’s black face—no doubt painted for war—they must have lost the blankets in battle. He returned to his village to tell the people of the approaching strangers, but didn’t report any cause for alarm. The village elders decided to await their arrival.

In the early evening the expedition reached Salish Chief Three Eagle’s village of considerable size, with 33 lodges, about 450 people and 500 horses. Once again they were welcomed with the “national hug” and fed. Because it was late, business was postponed until the following day.

The journals referred to the people as Flatheads, a name erroneously used, possibly because of a sign language gesture, because they had heard of Flatheads at Fort Mandan, or perhaps because someone from the Chinook tribe on the Pacific Coast, where they did flatten their heads, was visiting at the time. However the travelers were correct in observing and reporting a linguistic difference between the Salish and Shoshoni people, even though many other aspects of the two cultures were similar. This band was, in fact, about to travel east and share in the buffalo hunt with the Lemhi Shoshoni at Three Forks; the two groups were very close.

On the morning of September 5, 1805 the Americans and Salish began trade and diplomacy. As with the Shoshoni, it could be conducted verbally instead of through sign language. A Shoshoni boy lived there and was able to connect the final link from English, to French, Hidatsa, Shoshoni and Salish. The people of this village proved to be a most generous and kind hearted people. For flags, medals and other trade stock the expedition exchanged healthy horses for the spent beasts and purchased an additional 14 horses. Lewis inquired about Lolo Pass which lay ahead, for the Shoshoni had made it clear it was a difficult route with limited game. The two captains tended to believe if Nez Perce women and children used the trail, it probably wasn’t as treacherous as the Shoshoni led them to believe. For some reason the Salish leaders told them it would only take 5 days to cross, thus suggesting the captains were correct in their assumption.

On the 6th the two groups parted company. With the Bitterroots looming ominously to their left they continued north through the valley to Lolo Creek. There they rested two days. Old Toby gave them information about a more direct return route from that point, advising they use the Bitterroot, Clark’s Fork and Blackfoot Rivers to reach Great Falls.

From Traveler’s Rest to Lolo Pass: Into the Land of the Ni Mii Pu (Nez Perce)

Central Idaho is a sea of mountains drained by forks of the Clearwater, Snake and Salmon Rivers. The variation in terrain, with extreme climatic changes from river valley to mountain peaks, rewarded the Nez Perce people with abundant and diverse resources, shelter, ample pasturage for their enormous horse herds, a defined territory, and a relatively easy seasonal life cycle of hunting, gathering and food processing. But the mountains also formed a north/south and east/west transportation and communication barricade that lingers today. Because it has never been feasible to use the river valleys to cross that barricade, travel across the mountains was limited to a network of trails that penetrated densely timbered, steep and rocky slopes and ridges. Even when the weather suggests summer in the valleys, the mountain trails might easily be blanketed with deep, impassable snow. To begin crossing the mountains mid-September tempted fate; to attempt again in early June, as the expedition did the next year, was equally imprudent. But in 1805 the captains had set their course and there was no turning back. They had to reach the Pacific Ocean before winter set in.

Late in the afternoon of September 11, 1805, they left Travelers' Rest to resume a westward trek, traveling along a trail system so old and used that its depth revealed its antiquity. They were going to the land of the Ni Mii Pu, people who knew the route as the “Road to BuffaloCountry.”Clearwater bands of that tribe traveled annually east to hunt buffalo and trade withpeople of the Plains. But the road was also important to the Salish. To them it was the “Road to Fish with the Ni Mii Pu,” their route to the communal Nez Perce fisheries and trade with Plateau and Coastal people. Today the trail parallels US Highway 12 and Lolo Creek from Traveler’s Rest to Lolo Pass. A few miles beyond the pass it rises above the Lochsa Valley to crown the ridges of the Bitterroots for the next 80 miles. The second day’s journey from Travelers Rest was a forewarning of what lay ahead. To avoid the brushy creek bottom, they moved along the hillside to the north of Lolo Creek, a road described by Clark as being “very bad.” Two miles up the creek from their September 12 campsite they came upon a number of small hot springs. They rested at Lolo Hot Springs and tested the waters. Gas reported the water temperature was “considerably above blood-heat” and Clark, upon tasting it “found it hot and not bad tasted.” Clark also noted that Indians had made a “whole for a bathe” near one of the springs. Next June the springs were an eagerly anticipated overnight campsite.

Several roads and animal trails led out of the springs, confusing their guide Old Toby, who understandably might not have known details of the route. He took them a few miles east of the main trail. Clark noted there were beaver dams in the area, important information in light of the commercial aspect of the expedition. They continued to climb to the head of Lolo Creek and the mountain pass, then “through open glades, Some of which [were] 1/2 mile wide” [Packer Meadows]. They proceeded a few miles along Glade Creek before camping. It was September 13, 1805.

Lolo Pass to Kamiah: Initial Contact with the Nez Perce [Ni Mii Pu]

Toby again accidentally led them off the main route, down a Nez Perce fishing trail to the Lochsa River. They selected a campsite opposite a small island in the Lochsa near an unoccupied Indian fishery [Powell Ranger Station.] With rations severely depleted, and because "some of the men did not relish this [portable] soup," they killed a colt. The next morning they proceeded downstream an additional three miles before ascending Wendover Ridge to Lolo Trail. It was apparent further travel along the river valley was impossible.

Today as we drive along Highway 12, paralleling the beautiful Clearwater River and its Lochsa tributary, it seems as if the valley has always been an ideal travel route. Quite the contrary, as Lewis and Clark discovered. As soon as they corrected the error of Toby’s ill-chosen route their travels took them along high mountain ridges far to the north of the highway. They did not return to the Clearwater River until they reached the foothills of the Bitterroots near the present town of Orofino. However that stretch of their journey and their first contact with the Nez Perce people is one of the most compelling chapters in the entire episode.

Reaching the main trail from the river was a test of resolve. Once a horse fell; 8 or 10 men had to help him get up. On top the small party marched into the night, hoping to find water. Instead they found snow, which they melted to drink and mix with their portable soup. Whitehouse wrote he then "lay down contented." but awoke the next morning under a blanket of snow. Travel conditions grew worse. The road was terrible, the weather was terrible, and they were hungry. Clark described it best. "I have been wet and as cold in every part as I ever was in my life, indeed I was at one time fearfull my feet would freeze in the thin Mockierons which I wore. "A second colt, " the most useless part of our Stock...fell a Prey to our appetities." Desperate to find food and help, Clark and six hunters pushed on ahead the morning of the 18th of September. Two days later and eleven days from Travelers Rest, Clark’s small party finally emerged from what Gas called "the most terrible mountains I ever beheld." They came upon three Nez Perce boys in an open plain.

On the 22nd of September, 1805 Clark and six hunters reached the eastern edge of Weippe Prairie [O-ip.] In the distance they saw two villages. The three young boys whom Clark first met feared a raid and immediately hid. Clark found two of them, gave them small pieces of ribbon and sent them to the nearest village.

The boys came into camp wondering what "creatures" they had met. The men had eyes like fish.’ They smelled and, being bearded, one looked like he ‘had his face upside down.’ Were they human? Maybe half." Nez Perce Chief Red Bear cautiously approached them and escorted them into the spacious lodge of Chief Broken Arm. Clark could communicate only by sign, but learned Broken Arm was away with the warriors. People gathered around them. Some of the older women exhibited fear but many of the other people seemed pleased to see them. Clark could not explain the mixed response.

From Nez Perce stories we learn many things about that initial meeting, insights unknown to members of the expedition. They were expected. Among the native people, news traveled as fast as a man could run and a runner named Tahoma had already reached them and described the men approaching the village. Also, unknown to the Americans, three warriors of Broken Arm’s band left that spring heading east to the Hidatsa people to buy guns. At the same time the Corps of Discovery was headed west. They were back in camp with six guns, news about Lewis and Clark, and a desire for more guns and ammunition It made sense to welcome them. An established trade with the Americans would ensure a continued supply of arms, which became increasingly more important to the Nez Perce as it had with the Shoshoni and Salish.

But that was only part of the story. The Nez Perce also tell us there was a woman named Wetxuwiis in camp that day who played a critical role in how the strangers were received. According to Chief Many Wounds, Wetxuwiis was in a tent of the first village and very ill. As soon as she heard Clark speaking outside, she asked Many Wounds’ mother to lift the side of the teepee so she could see out. She then announced: "That is the strange white people I have been telling you about...I have seen them before, bring them here to me quick."

Chief Red Bear went to Clark, took him by the hand and into her teepee. "They shake hands and talk strange talk." Then Wetxuwiis spoke to her people, explaining, "if you are good to them they will be good to you and give you lots [of] things like you never did see before." She told the people to prepare food for them, recounting her story of being taken captive in the Bitterroots and traded from man to man as far east as the Great Lakes. Finally she escaped with a baby on her back and fled west. It was a difficult flight, one that took the life of her child and would have killed her had she not come upon a party of white men. They helped her return to the Bitterroot country and to her people. Some members of the tribe wanted to kill Clark and his men but the words of Wetxuwiis stayed their hand.

The Nez Perce also had a prophecy foretelling the expediton's arrival. "Maybe too, these were the people about whom prophecy spoke. One day strangers would come with a paper. The paper would tell them that one day their name would go into a book, but they knew not when. It might be the Bible, it might be an allotment book, for prophecy also said the people would draw lines saying this is yours, this is mine. They also knew the people would make things that would go through the air or crawl on the ground."

Clark knew nothing about why the people in the villages welcomed them. As with most of the journal accounts, the entry reads almost as if he expected it. He and his men received generous servings of dried buffalo, salmon, and camas bread, all nutritious food but a diet that did not agree with the starving explorers. They soon suffered diarrhea and painful gas, afflictions that lingered for many days and ultimately struck the entire party.

Clark sent Private Reuben Fields back for Lewis and the main party. They reached the village September 22; and Clark joined them that evening. He went ahead with Peo-Peo Tal likth, Red Bear, Timothy [father and son] to find Chief Twisted Hair, who was fishing along the Clearwater River.13 Twisted Hair suspected Clark was with the same party he met earlier at a Shoshoni camp and, before meeting Clark, he fixed himself up just as he was then so they would recognize him.

He and the other chiefs returned to the Weippe Prairie to join the rest of the expedition. They smoked "peace smoke" with the strangers and received their gifts, which included a Jefferson peace medal. To the Nez Perce gift giving verified the strangers’ humanity. Twisted Hair drew them a map of regional rivers and agreed to guide them west. On the 24th they left Weippe Prairie for the Clearwater River, reaching it near Jim Ford’s Creek a few miles east of present-day Orofino. They then prepared for the final leg of their long journey.