The Lewis and Clark Expedition Across Missouri

The Lewis and Clark Expedition Across Missouri. . , The Lewis and Clark Expedition camped below these bluffs and just downstream from here on June 6, 1804, across from a large island, known at the time as Big Manitou Island, which no longer exists. To reach camp, crews of the two pirogues struggled to row against a strong current, as the river had risen a foot overnight. According to Capt. William Clark, the riverbanks collapsed repeatedly. The keelboat passed left of Big Manitou Island and then crossed to this side of the river. The 20 oarsmen of the keelboat had so outdistanced the pirogues that they halted two hours early to give the crews of the pirogues time to catch up., Earlier in the day, the party passed the mouth of Petite Saline Creek on the river's west side. Clark noted the brackish water at the creek's mouth in his journal. The French boatmen in the expedition described the many salt springs on this creek, one especially large. Clark wrote that "one Verry large Lick is 9 ms. up on the left Side the water of the Spring in this Lick is Strong as one bushel of the water is said to make 7 lb of good salt." Americans later established Gooch's Mill near the salt spring Clark described, and called the spring "Big Lick.", On the morning of June 7, the party soon reached what are now Torbett Spring and Lewis and Clark Cave. Sgt. Charles Floyd wrote in his journal: "Came 2 miles past Som Springs Comes out of Clifte." No journal-keeper in the party mentioned the Indian pictographs above the spring, however. Clark and others in the expedition seemed to be conscientious about recording pictographs, and instructions from President Thomas Jefferson made it clear that the captains should carefully observe Indians and their way of life. Various journals noted pictographs later that day, as well as two days earlier, at other locations along the Missouri River bluffs. It's possible that the Torbett Spring pictographs were painted after the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed by., [Sidebar:] , Pictographs , The Stephen Long Expedition first noted the Torbett Spring pictographs in 1819. Unfortunately, they have been severely weathered. The red pigment may be from iron ores such as hematite or limonite. In 1833, German explorer Prince Maximilian of Wied saw this site and wrote: "On the rocks, which are divided by ravines into broad rounded shapes, like towers, the Virginia red cedar grows, and falcons build their nests. We see here on the rocky walls red spots, strokes and figures, remaining from the time when the Indians dwelt here." The 1882 History of Boone County described the Torbett Spring pictographs as "two rudely executed drawings of human figures, perhaps twenty inches in height, with arms extended; one small human figure with a staff in its hand; numerous circles, with dots and crosses in the center; spots within semicircles, half resembling the human eye, etc." Sauk and the Fox Indians, possible artists of the Torbett Spring pictographs, lived in the area until around 1814.