Lemhi County(74) ► ADJACENT TO LEMHI COUNTY Butte County(30) ► Clark County(3) ► Custer County(62) ► Idaho County(87) ► Valley County(7) ► Beaverhead County, Montana(52) ► Ravalli County, Montana(35) ►
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Filling in the Blanks
The maps of North America carried by Lewis and Clark showed only a vast, uncharted space between the Mandan villages of the Missouri Rier and the Pacific Coast. The mountains separating the Missouri and Columbia . . . — — Map (db m109507) HM
Two days before reaching the Continental Divide, Meriwether Lewis speculated that the Columbia River would not have the same moderate character as the Missouri.
“I do not beleive (sic) that the world can furnish an example of a . . . — — Map (db m109542) HM
First Taste of the Columbia
"we proceeded on to the top of the dividing ridge from which I discovered immence ranges of high mountains still to the West of us with their tops partially covered with snow. I now decended the mountain . . . — — Map (db m109543) HM
High Point of the Journey
"thus far I had accomplished one of those great objects on which my mind has been unalterably fixed for many years.," wrote Meriwether Lewis, 456 days after setting out from St. Louis.
Lewis, George . . . — — Map (db m109504) HM
On Monday August 12, 1805, Lewis,with three men as an advance party, crossed the Lemhi Pass and spent their first night in Idaho near this spot. Lewis wrote, "...after a short halt of a few minutes we continued our march along the Indian road which . . . — — Map (db m109545) HM
Arriving at the headwaters of Lemhi River, a company of Latter-Day Saint men who had been called to establish a mission among the Indians proceeded approximately 30 miles downstream, selected a site for a fort and a tract of farming land, On June . . . — — Map (db m123675) HM
In 1855 a group of Mormon missionaries came north from Utah to found a remote colony just below the bench east of here.
A religious settlement rather than a military fort. Salmon River Mission grew to more than 100 settlers before Indian . . . — — Map (db m109585) HM
This marker is made up of two panels.
Moving over the Mountains
The Shoshone Indians call this pass " Wee-yah-vee." For thousands of years, the Aqui-dika, or Salmoneater people of the Shoshone, and other tribes, . . . — — Map (db m109503) HM
The salmon runs that fed the Lemhi Shoshone in summer had almost ended: it was time to leave for the fall buffalo hunt on the Missouri River. Cameaghwait and his people would hunt with their allies, the Montana Salish, for mutual defense against . . . — — Map (db m109440) HM
Who passed this way?
In August of 1805 members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Shoshone Indians crossed Lemhi Pass six times in 15 days.
• Monday, the 12th --- Lewis, McNeal, Drouillard & Shields --- headed west
• . . . — — Map (db m110838) HM
Cameahwait's band of 400 Lemhi Shoshone dried berries, seeds, roots, and salmon in summer, but it was not enough. To survive the long winter, they would need about fifteen tons of bison jerky. The fall bison hunt in Montana was risky because enemies . . . — — Map (db m109582) HM
After crossing through Lemhi Pass, 12 miles east of here, Lewis unfurled the American flag for the first time west of the Rockies.
Meriwether Lewis met with 3 Shoshoni Indians near here on August 13, 1805. "....leaving my pack and rifle I . . . — — Map (db m109409) HM
Captain Meriwether, interpreter George Drouillard, and privates Hugh McNeal and John Shields crossed Lemhi Pass on the afternoon of August 12, 1805. The Indian road they were traveling climbed north out of the narrow Agency Creek Canyon at the foot . . . — — Map (db m109581) HM
When Lewis learned that Clark had found the Salmon River un-navigable, buying more horses became a top priority. He'd already bought fifteen, but he needed twice that many to carry the Expedition's baggage.
But enemy raiders had stolen many Lemhi . . . — — Map (db m109441) HM
The Corps of Discovery were the first U.S. citizens to reach the Northwest by land, strengthening the American claim established in 1792 when mariner Robert Gray discovered the Columbia River.
When Lewis unfurled the Stars and Stripes, he made . . . — — Map (db m109463) HM
Lewis and Clark fans love the sturdy the overland portion of the Trail in Montana and Idaho. There's little question about the route on the Missouri or Columbia rivers, but the mountains present challenges to explorers then and now.
The evidence . . . — — Map (db m109478) HM
At the Lemhi Shoshone camp Lewis learned of the danger and hunger that threatened the tribe. He asked the chief about routes west, but Cameahwait's descriptions were discouraging: rocky rivers, deep canyons, terrible mountains.
Lewis proposed an . . . — — Map (db m109459) HM
Lewis's advance party entered the valley below in search of the Lemhi Shoshone, whose horses the Expedition would need to cross the mountains. The first Indians Lewis saw fled before he could reach them, but he soon came upon three women. When Lewis . . . — — Map (db m213343) HM
(Two panels share a common support.)
Meriwether Lewis identified, described and collected plants that were new to science and observed how the Shoshone used local plants. These species can be found in this area:
• Syringa or Mock . . . — — Map (db m109584) HM
Pioneer miner and rancher Frank B. Sharkey, who settled near this site in the 1870s, praised this sprig as he soaked in its soothing waters. Around 1890 Eleihu Barnes erected as shanty over the springs to keep the cows out.
In the late . . . — — Map (db m109462) HM
There are many stories about the young Indian woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
As time goes on, Sacajawea continues to inspire our admiration and curiosity. People delight in the stories of Sacajawea. These stories continue . . . — — Map (db m109480) HM
Lewis and Clark gave Sacajawea a miracle: a return home for the first time since her kidnapping several years earlier. She gave them as much: a Lemhi Shoshone interpreter and an advocate for the Expedition in buying Lemhi horses.
It was a . . . — — Map (db m109445) HM
There were many heroes in this band of intrepid explorers, there was but one heroine. Denied in life and after that recognition which was due her, it is fitting that we meet here today to dedicate this spot in honor of that heroine." R.F. . . . — — Map (db m109482) HM
On April 7, 1855, at the conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Pres. Brigham Young called 27 elders to found a mission among the Indians of the Salmon River Country, Oregon Territory, with Thomas S. Smith in charge. . . . — — Map (db m123676) HM
This community is named for a great man: Tendoy, chief of the Lemhi Shoshone from 1863 to 1907. During the Nez Perce, Bannock and Sheepeater troubles of the 1870s, Tendoy preserved the peace in Lemhi County. In gratitude, prominent local settlers . . . — — Map (db m172862) HM
The Red Rock Stage travelled this route between Salmon, ID, and Red Rock, MT from 1866 to 1910. It ran 125 miles daily, year-round, involving 90 horses, 14 Concord Coaches, and 12 wagons. Several holdups occurred near here, and it was not unusual . . . — — Map (db m109554) HM
There are four plaques, one on each side, of this monument.)
The Indian Mission Call: Issued by Brigham Young to 27 elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) at Salt Lake City, April 6 1855.
"Go into the . . . — — Map (db m123678) HM
About 50 million years ago, this was one of the most violent landscapes on Earth. A sub-surface mass of molten rock rose and subsided in cycles, spewing gas, mineral fragments and ash in explosions hundreds of times more powerful that an atomic . . . — — Map (db m109446) HM
Was the Salmon River as treacherous as Cameahwait, the Lemhi Shoshone chief, had said? Clark and eleven men had come to find out. Finding a navigable, westward-flowing river was the major objective of the Expedition at this time.
Clark stayed . . . — — Map (db m231270) HM
