The Lewis and Clark Expedition Across Missouri

The Lewis and Clark Expedition Across Missouri. . The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed under this bluff early on June 9, 1804. Capt. William Clark noted in his journal: "3 1/2 Ms. [miles] to a pt. on the S.S. [starboard side] opposite the Commencement of the 1st Prairie, Called Prairie of the Arrows." Arrow Rock, or "Pierre a Fleche," was an old geographic name. Many landmarks on the lower Missouri River had been given names by Europeans who had been exploring and trading on the Missouri for a century by the time Lewis and Clark passed by. , The day before, on June 8, the expedition had met three fur traders returning from upriver. These traders had come from the Big Sioux River, a tributary to the Missouri, some 850 miles above the mouth. It was not a shock to meet boats returning to St. Louis - this was the fifth trading party Lewis and Clark had met since leaving St. Charles. They also found a cache of canteens, axes, pumice stone and furs "hid and buried" on Island of Mills (Arrow Rock Island), where the party camped that night. , On June 9, after passing the "prarie of Arrows," the keelboat stern got stuck on one of the river's many submerged logs, "which was not proceiveable [perceivable]" according to Clark. The current then swung the bow around and the keelboat became hung in snags that were choked were driftwood. Clark called this a "disagreeable and Dangerous Situation, particularly as immense large trees were Drifting down and we lay imediately in their Course." Some quick thinking crew members immediately jumped into the river and swam to shore with a rope. The boat was then freed in a matter of minutes. Clark, not one to shower undeserved praise on anyone, wrote in his journal that "I can Say with Confidence that our party is not inferior to any that was ever on the waters on the Missoppie." , Running the Missouri River Gauntlet, The keelboat accident on June 9, just upriver from today's Arrow Rock State Historic Site, was not an isolated event. In Clark's journal, he repeatedly described the Missouri River's ferocity. Usually it was one of a triple threat of hazards threatening the keelboat and two pirogues. Until this point, logs (May 15), moving sand (May 24, June 5) and collapsing banks (June 1, June 6) had endangered the keelboat. All were made worse by the swift spring current that penalized any misjudgment. The worst news was that the Corps of Discovery had yet to face the hardest part of the river, the stretch between the Grand and Kansas rivers. , That May and June, many days of rain raised the Missouri River, although it was not in flood. "The Current was So Strong that we Could not Stem it" is a phrase that occurs more than once in expedition member's Missouri journal entries. The men quickly learned how to handle the ungainly 55-foot, deep-drafted keelboat in all river conditions, and rarely repeated a mistake. Two weeks earlier, at Retrograde Bend, the boat was spun around and nearly lost. On that day luck, not skill, saved the keelboat. Now, on June 9, the crew had demonstrated that they were equal to the challenges of the Missouri River. Clark's praise for the men that day indicated his belief that his highly motivated army privates were now as capable on the river as the best and most experienced French boatmen that could be hired in St. Louis. , (side quote:), "Some of our men being prepared for all Situations leaped into the water Swam ashore with a roap, and fixed themselves in Such Situations, that the boat was off in a fiew minits, I can Say with Confidence that our party is not inferior to any that was ever on the waters of the Missoppie.", William Clark, June 9, 1804