This is
timeline of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition through the
American West in
1804-
1805
1803
- July 4— News of the Louisiana Purchase is announced; Lewis will now be exploring land largely owned by the United States.
Summer 1803
1804
- May 14—The Corps of Discovery leaves Saint Charles, Missouri, beginning the voyage to the Pacific coast.
- May 23— Meriwether Lewis nearly loses his life while on a pinnacle of rocks. He found a flower that he had never seen before. He lost his balance and tumbled down a cliff, only stopping himself with his hunting knife.
- May 25— The expedition passes the small village of La Charette on the Missouri River. Charles Floyd writes in his journal that this is "the last settlement of whites on this river."
- July 4—Marking Independence Day, the expedition names Independence Creek on the Mississippi River.
- August 3—The Corps of Discovery hold the first official council between representatives of the United States and the Oto and Missouri Indians. They hand out peace medals, 15-star flags and other gifts, parade men and show off technology.
- August 20—Sergeant Floyd dies, the only member lost during the expedition.
- August 30—A friendly council with Yankton Indians held. According to a legend, Lewis wraps a newborn baby in a United States flag and declares him "an American."
- September 7—The whole expedition drowns a prairie dog out of its den to send back to Jefferson.
- September 25—The Teton Sioux (a subdivison of the Lakota) demand one of the boats as a toll for moving further upriver.
- October 24—Expedition reaches the earth-log villages of the Mandans and the Hidatsas. The captains decide to build Fort Mandan across the river from the main village.
- November 4—The captains hire Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trapper living among the Hidatsas with his Shoshone wife, Sacagawea.
- December 24—Fort Mandan is considered complete. Robert Hunt encountered. Expedition moves in for the winter.
1805
- November 7 —Corps of Discovery encounters the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River.
- November 24 —Corps of Discovery takes the matter of where to spend the winter to vote. York, a slave, and Sacagawea, a woman, were allowed to vote. It was decided to camp on the south side of the Columbia River.
- December 25 —Corps of Discovery moves into newly constructed Fort Clatsop to spend the winter.
1806
- January 1 —Several Corps members build a salt-making cairn near present-day Seaside, Oregon.
- March 23 —Corps of Discovery leaves Fort Clatsop on return voyage east.
- July 27 —The Blackfeet Indians try to steal Lewis's group's rifles. A fight broke out and several Indians were killed. This is the first hostile encounter with an Indian tribe.
- September 23 —Corps of Discovery returns to St. Louis, Missouri, ending the journey east.
