Small Prairie Camp

Small Prairie Camp. "...we found two deer...". In June 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition members were in good spirits as they began their journey home over the Lolo Trail. Although the men were well fed, rested an had 66 horses to ride and carry their gear, the trails were still very slippery and several horses fell but were not injured. The trail was covered with fallen trees and passage was difficult. At dark they camped at "small prairie' were there was plenty of grass for their horses. , The party passed Collins Creek, which today is called Lolo Creek, and then moved through heavily forested land to this area. Captain Lewis noted several species of pine here and commented that the soil was rich and has a red cast like lands he knew from Virginia. , Capt. Meriwether Lewis, June 15, 1806 , "...it rained very hard in the morning and after collecting our horses we waited (an hour) for it to abait, but as it had every appearance of a settled rain we set out at 10 A.M. we passed a little prarie (sic) at the distance of 8 1/2 me..... , ...we found two deer which they had killed and hung up. at the distance of 2 1/2 miles further we arrived at Collins' Creek where we found our hunters; they had killed another deer, and had seen two large bear together the one black and the other white.... , ...the rains have rendered the road very slippery insomuch that it is with much difficulty our horses can get on several of them fell but sustained no injury. after dinner we proceeded up the creek about 1/2 a mile, passing it three times, thence through a high broken country to the Easterly fork of the same creek about 10 1/2 miles and incamped (sic) near a small prarie in the bottom land. the fallen timber in addition to the slippery roads made our march slow and extreemly laborious on our horses."