Pickstown / Lewis and Clark

Pickstown, also, Lewis and Clark. . , Pickstown , Lewis and Clark passed this site on September 8, 1804. The next day they had their first encounter with prairie dogs, which they called barking squirrels. They killed one and caught one alive by pouring a great quantity of water into its hole., They later attempted to dig up a prairie dog burrow. After digging down six feet, a pole was put down the hole, indicating they were not even half way. The digging was abandoned., Clark wrote "these little animals set erect, make a whistling noise, and when alarmed step into their holes." They killed a rattlesnake nearby which had a young prairie dog in its stomach., They passed the house of Trudeau, a French trader who had wintered there during 1796 and 1797., They also saw herds of buffalo, elk, and deer, plus turkey, beaver and a fox squirrel., Lewis and Clark , The Lewis and Clark Expedition, officially the Corps of Discovery, was in what is now South Dakota from August 21 to October 14, 1804 and from August 21 to September 4, 1806., While here they would make numerous discoveries of animals, plants, birds and fish previously unknown to science. Among these would be the pronghorn antelope, which they called goats, and the prairie dog, which they called barking squirrels. Other new discoveries in South Dakota included the mule deer, coyote, great gray wolf, prairie rattlesnake, the northern jack rabbit, and a different kind of porcupine., They also found the black billed magpie, which until then had been thought to exist only in Europe., Here they would meet with a number of Indian tribes, handing out gifts and making speeches about the great white father in Washington. Although there were a few tense moments, there were no battles with the tribes they encountered in present-day South Dakota.