Lewis & Clark Camped Here

Lewis and Clark Camped Here. A Missing Note and A Side Trip Up the Big Hole River. , Which Fork to Take? , Meriwether Lewis, traveling ahead with 3 men, reached this spot two days ahead of William Clark and the main parry. After exploring the river courses, Lewis left a note telling Clark to stay on the Jefferson River. Clark never found it and starred up the Big Hole instead. , The men pulled the boats upstream about nine miles before meeting one of Lewis’ men. Their return trip resulted in a near disaster which almost killed a man. , The expedition was reunited and made camp near here on August 7th. They spent a day drying out their baggage. After repacking, they decided to leave one dugout behind, hidden in a thicket. , ”…arrived at the confluence of the two rivers where I left the note. this note had unfortunately been placed on a green pole which the beaver had cut and carried off together with the note; the possibility of such an occurrence never once occurred to me when I placed it on the green pole… Capt. Clark… ascended it (Big Hole River) with much difficulty…” , Meriwether Lewis , August 5th, 1805 , ”Whitehouse had been thrown out of one of the canoes… a great part of our most valuable stores were wet and much damaged on this occasion… all the baggage wet, the medicine box… lost a shot pouch and horn with all the implements for one rifle lost and never recovered…” , Meriwether Lewis , August 6th, 1805 , ”…the Indian woman recognized the point of a high plain to our right which she informed us was not very distant from the summer retreat of her nation on a river beyond the mountains which runs to the west, this she says here nation calls the beaver’s head…” , Meriwether Lewis , August 8th, 1805 , marker background picture caption: , One of the most famous landmarks in Southwest Montana, named for its resemblance to the head of a swimming beaver.