As you’ve probably noticed, every major place we’ve visited on our Lewis & Clark trip has had a museum or interpretive center that’s covered what we’ve seen and known about and then provided more information. Such is the case at Travelers’ Rest State Park just outside of Lolo, Montana. According to AI, “Lolo, Montana, is an unincorporated community in Missoula County with a history tied to Native American trails, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and early fur trade. The area was a key route over the Bitterroot Mountains used by the Nez Perce and Salish peoples for trade and travel, and it later became part of the Lolo Trail traversed by Lewis and Clark in 1805.”
Here’s some more information from a Montana website, “Lolo is near the Montana-Idaho border and Lolo Pass. Located at a historic and contemporary crossroads, Travelers’ Rest State Park is a place where visitors can say with certainty that they are walking in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark. The nearby creek was originally called Travelers’ Rest Creek because men using the trail found it an ideal spot to stop, rest, hunt and repair their gear before tackling the trip over the pass. The natural hot water springs also helped make it a favorite stop.”
Here’s some more information from a Discovering Montana website, “This state park is the place where visitors come to say they have walked in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark. Formerly used as a trading ground for Montana’s First Nations, as well as a campsite for Lewis and Clark, the Travelers’ Rest has an impressive history.”
“The [State] Park is on pretty much the same spot as that used by the Corps of Discovery when they hit this area in 1805. Scientific discoveries actually allowed physical evidence of the expedition to be unearthed here, making it the only campsite from all those featured on the Lewis and Clark Trail linked to such discoveries.”
“Native Americans also used the area as a campsite and trail junction for centuries, and this would have included Salish, Pend d’Oreille, and the Nez Perce peoples.”
“Lolo Creek runs through the park, making Travelers’ Rest something of an idyllic spot from which to check out the park’s trails.”
From a Bitterroot Info for Lolo, Lewis & Clark put Lolo, Montana, on the map. “After spending some time at ‘Traveller’s Rest’ in the early fall of 1805, Lewis and Clark returned to what’s now Lolo, Montana in the summer of 1806. Of all the places they could have returned to in their epic journey, they chose this location. They needed a place to rest, to gather food, and to prepare their gear before exploring more of Montana.”
how the tribes used this land before 1776
When our nation was formed in 1776, the Salish and Pend d’Oreille/Kalispel called this place “No Salmon.” The name comes from the story of a Coyote trying, but failing, to bring salmon over the Bitterroot Mountains. Yet this valley was rich in its own foods: trout, deer, elk, bitterroot, and camas. Lolo Pass served as a major trail, leading west toward salmon and east into buffalo country.
In a National Park Service website, I found this information about the bitterroot that the expedition tried eating. “Writing in his journal, Lewis described the root as ‘cilindric and as white as snow throughout, except some small parts of the hard black rind which they had not seperated in the preperation… [the roots] became perfectly soft by boiling, but had a very bitter taste, which was naucious to my pallate, and [I] transfered them to the Indians who had eat them heartily.’ Given this description, Lewis might vigorously endorse the common name of this plant: bitterroot.”
The tribal elders tell of the fire-keeper who set controlled fires to encourage food plants, improve grazing, and clear trails. It was also a gathering ground for Shoshone, Nez Perce, and Kootenai families who camped, traded, and shared stories here.
back to the expedition
On August 14, 1805, as Lewis and Clark were talking with the Shoshone at Camp Fortunate, Lewis asked what route the Nez Perce used to come over to the Missouri. Chief Cameahwait said their path was to the north but it was hard for them to get through since there was no game in that part of the mountains and they “suffered excessively with hunger.” The terrain was made up of broken rocks and so thickly covered with timber that they could hardly pass.
The road to the east from Travelers’ Rest led the Salish and other tribes from the west to the plains where they could hunt bison. Imagine Lewis’ thoughts when he heard that there route had taken 53 days could instead be traveled in less than a week!
The road to the west, called “Trail to the Nez Perce,” by the Salish was the main route connecting this area to the salmon country and the Pacific Ocean. The place Lewis named “Travellers Rest” was a hub of a vast network of tribal routes that radiated across the western North America.
more about the Salish people
On August 17, 1805, Lewis wrote abut the Salish, “We wish them to collect as many horses as were necessary to transport our baggage to their village on the Columbia where we would then trade with them at our leasure for such horses as they could spare us . . . They appeared well pleased with what had been said. The chief thanked us for friendship towards himself and nation and declared his wish to serve us in every rispect; that he was sorry to find that it must yet be some time before they could be furnished with firearms but said they could live as they had done heretofore until we brought them as we had promised.”
In the fall of 1805 the Lewis and Clark expedition found themselves in the upper reaches of the Bitterroot Valley. On September 4th, about 70 miles south of Travelers’ Rest, they met a large encampment of Salish Indians in a small meadow now known as Ross’s Hole. The Salish name for this place was Big Open. The Salish, guided by familiar landmarks and following traditional trails, were on their way to join the Shoshone who were gathering to hunt bison on the eastern plains. The explorers were witnessing an age-old traditional strategy employed the Salish to gather food and other material resources, known as the seasonal round.
Excerpt from The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, “Like other early non-Indian visitors, Lewis and Clark did not realize that the tribes were practicing one of the most sustainable ways of life the world has ever known. Unaware of the length and depth of tribal history, they did not understand that what they saw in western Montana in 1805 was not the product of human absence, but the product of human presence—or more precisely, a particular kind of human presences, a particular cultural relationship to the land, a particular way of life.”
Lewis and Clark followed these ancient trails, and many of our major highways still follow them today.
horses
After traveling over 3000 miles by river, morale was low when the expedition discovered that they would need to find a different mode of transportation to traverse the mountains. After building trust with the Shoshone in August of 1805, the Corps traded clothing, knives, trinkets, and the promise to deliver guns later to obtain the horses from the Shoshone Indians.
On their return trip east, they had put in over 1000 miles on horseback. At times, the expedition had as few as 3 horses to as many as 67. Becoming a cavalry wasn’t an easy transition. The Corps spent countless hours searching for lost horses and learning how to ride on unpredictable terrain, resulting in injuries and fatigue. Yet the endless struggles were worthwhile since the expedition would have probably failed without the horses.
moccasins
On June 23, 1805, Clark wrote, “men mended their mockersons with double Soles to Save their feet from the prickley pear, (which abounds in the Praries,) and the hard ground which in Some & maney places So hard as to hurt the feet verry much”
When the expedition started in May 1804, they wore the standard leather military shoes of the time. Lewis, familiar with these shoes’ reputation for rapid deterioration, knew his men would need to construct their own shoes before long and included moccasin awls on their equipment list. Within two months, Euro-American-styled footwear was being abandoned in favor of moccasins or bare feet.
This style was familiar to the men of the expedition but offered little protection once they advanced onto the rocky soil and prickly pear cacti of the West. By October 1804, the group encountered Indians trading the more protective two-piece “plains” style of moccasins. Spending the winter of 1804-1805 at Fort Mandan, members of the Corps learned from the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes how to construct this style of footwear.
Regardless of style, members of the expedition found their moccasins lacked durability, constantly needing repairs or replacements. During the winter of 1805-1806 at Fort Clatsop, they constructed over 300 pairs of moccasins for the journey back east. This supply did not last the entirety of the return trip.
“One pair of good mockins will not last more than about 2 days. Will Ware holes in them the first day and patch them for the next.” [During the winter at Fort Clatsop, they made so many moccasins that each person had at least 3 for the trip home.]
ammunition
Firearms were essential to the success of the expedition. Though the Corps left St. Louis with some preserved food, they relied on hunters to bring in game nearly every day. Typically, the Army transported gunpowder in wooden kegs that were unreliably waterproof. Captain Lewis showed great ingenuity in designing leaden canisters like this replica in the next picture.
In his journal, Lewis described how each cannister was “filled with the necessary proportion of poder to discharge the lead when used, and those canesters well secured with corks and wax.”
- Step one – Melt lead over high heat in a cast iron ladle
- Step two – Pour melted lead into a mold
- Step three – After cooling, remove lead ball from mold and trim
The last picture in the row shows lead balls before trimming and a hardened puddle of spilled lead. In the next post we’ll see where these lead balls were made.
archeological proof (more about this in the next post)
Over the years because of excavation, the suspected cook fire locations gave up a wealth of information that would not have been accessible even a generation earlier. First, at one of the three identified fire hearths, large quantities of fire had cracked rocks—indications of a very hot fire. As expected, they also found a lens of charcoal. And in that fire hearth they found two clues—a blue trade bead [so important to the tribes they traded with] and a piece of lead.
The large magnetic footprint of this hearth and the lead and the fire-cracked rock were critical to unraveling this mystery of where the expedition actually camped. A close read of the journals revealed that John Shields, the blacksmith and gunsmith of the expedition, had been doing some work here in 1806.
The excavation team was also looking for traces of mercury in this layer of soil—the residue from Dr. Rush’s Bilious Pills that were used for nearly any ailment and mostly comprised of the compound mercurous chloride.
Researchers knew that only 15% of the mercury would be retained by the human body with the rest passed from the system. Evidence indicated that members of the expedition were being treated with the mercury during the four days that the expedition camped here in 1806.
Scientists detected traces of mercury vapor in the ground. The only reasonable explanation for mercury being fund in this trench was from the afflicted members of the expedition.
The National Historic Landmark boundary was moved to Travelers’ Rest State Park in 2006. As of 2010, Travelers’ Rest remains the only scientifically verified Lewis and Clark campsite in the nation.
conclusion
The mythical “Northwest Passage,” an inland waterway or short portage that would connect the Missouri and Columbia River drainages, was a certainty in the minds of many Euro-Americans living in North America in 1800. By the time the Lewis and Clark expedition reached Travelers’ Rest for the first time in September 1805, it is possible that they knew this easy route was indeed a myth.
Now let’s look at some of the members of the expedition that were highlighted in the museum.
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