Lewis and Clark / Springfield

Lewis and Clark, also, Springfield. . , 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., Springfield , Lewis and Clark came through this area on September 1-3, 1804. They traveled through very high bluffs composed of yellowish-red, brownish and white clay as hard as chalk., They landed on the lower end of Bon Homme Island and camped the night of September 1. On September 1, 1806, they stopped on the same island to hunt, taking but one elk. Clark remarked that this brought two years together., Near this island, they saw what they believed were the remains of an ancient fortification. Clark spent several hours measuring and making drawings of this. Despite Clark's enthusiasm, this "fortification," one of the two most elaborate on the Missouri, was later determined to have been formed by the flooding of the river depositing quantities of sand over many years., On September 3, Clark remarked about the great quantities of plums with a delicious flavor near Plum Creek. Historians believe the area is present-day Emanuel Creek, just west of here.