The Lewis and Clark Expedition Across Missouri - Chamois, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 40.874 W 091° 46.331
15S E 606795 N 4282119
"Set out at 6 oClock after a heavy shower and prodeeded on... the Current Verry Swift river riseing fast... we Made 14 miles to day, the river Continue to rise, the County on each Side appear full of Water."
William Clark, May 30, 1804
Waymark Code: WMKE3F
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 03/29/2014
Views: 3
County of marker: Osage County
Location of marker: city park on Missouri River bank, N. of MO-100 , Chamois
Marker erected by: Missouri Department of natural Resources, National Park Service, Missouri Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commission
Sign Produced by: William A. Kerr Foundation & Missouri State Parks Foundation
Marker Text:
The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed this location on May 30, 1804. On May 27 and 28, 1804, the expedition had camped at the mouth of the Gasconade River. Late in the day of May 29, the expedition broke camp and moved four miles upriver. They camped that night on the south bank of the Missouri River just beyond today's Bailey Creek. A heavy rain delayed their departure on May 30. At noon, they encountered rain, hail and a hard wind. The river came up fast and the current was very swift. About four miles above Little Tavern Creek they passed Rush Creek (today's Greasy Creek), the site of present-day Chamois. After fighting the strong current and rain for another eight miles, they camped at the mouth of "Grinestone Creek" (present-day Deer Creek). William Clark noticed that the bottom land along the Missouri River were filling with water. This was the only time in the Lower Missouri that the river reached flood stage during the expedition.
Because of the continuing rain and high wind, the expedition remained in camp the next day. A French trader, a mixed blood man, and an Indian woman came down the river on a "cajaux" [raft?] carrying bear skins, deer hides and beaver pelts. They were coming from the Grand of Big Osage Indian tribe on the Arkansas River. The French trader had delivered a letter to the Osage nation announcing that America had come into possession of the Louisiana country; the Indians burned the letter.
On May 31, Meriwether Lewis decided to collect botanical specimens in the surrounding woods: "Cap Lewis went out to the woods & found many curious Plants & Srubs," according to Clark. Clark also noted that "Several rats of Considerable Size was Caught in the woods to day." These rats belonged to a species unknown to science - the eastern wood rat. This was the first observation of an animal new to science on the expedition.
GRAND or BIG OSAGE INDIAN NATION
By the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, there was dissension within the Big Osage Indian nation. In recent years, this band had split into two groups. Many of the Big Osage, and their kinsmen, the Little Osage, remained in their villages near the headwaters of the Osage River not far from the border between present-day Missouri and Kansas. The remainder of the Big Osage, nearly half the tribe, had moved to the Arkansas River in present-day southeastern Kansas because of conflicts over tribal leadership and to maintain trade relations with the St. Louis merchants, Auguste and Pierre Chouteau. It was this group that burned the letter announcing American sovereignty over the Louisiana territory. Both Lewis and Clark attempted to reunite the Osage factions in the years following the expedition.