HOMEWARD BOUND ON A RISKY SHORTCUT
It was the summer of 1806. Lewis and Clark were on their way back east from the Pacific Ocean. On July 3, they divided forces at Traveler's Rest to explore more territory before reuniting on the Missouri River and returning home. Clark headed for the Yellowstone River. Captain Meriwether Lewis chose a shortcut to the plains described to him by their Nez Perce guides, who would ride only a little beyond the junction of the Bitterroot and Clark Fork River and predicted trouble with the Blackfeet Indians. From July 3-7, 1806, Lewis with nine men and his dog, Seaman, followed a well-worn trail the Nez Perce called the Cokahlarishkit or "River of the Road to the Buffalo." This trail led them up the Blackfoot River and quickly across the Continental Divide to the Missouri River.
Despite his impatience to return to the familiar plains of the Missouri, Lewis took time to record swans, wild horses, pronghorn and signs of bison west of the Continental Divide. He observed
"high broken mountains," destined to become the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The men also passed five deserted Indian encampments. On July 6th, they joined fresh tracks of what appeared to he a
"returning war-party" of Blackfeet with
"a large pasel of horses." Anxious to avoid contact with the Blackfeet, Lewis wrote of being
"much on our guard both say and nght."
DISCOVER THE ANCIENT PATHWAY
For thousands of years, the Kootenai, Salish, Nez Perce, Blackfeet, Crow and Shoshone Indians traveled with dog travois that etched ruts deep into the Cokahlarishkit trail. Horses arrived in the 1700s, a train in 1913 and the Rogers Pass road to Great Falls opened in 1939. As you travel the "River of the Road to the Buffalo," reflect on the footsteps that marked this route before you.
Most of the Salish tribe gathered each May and June to harvest nutritious camas roots in the Potomac Valley. Bison hunting parties followed the trail to the plains about three times a year, sometimes joined by other allies for protection against the Blackfeet, known for sending horse-raiding parties deep into Salish territory
"I now ordered the horses saddled, smoked a pipe with these friendly people and at noon, bid them adieu. They had cut the meat which I gave them them last evening thin and exposed it in the sun to dry informing are that they would leave it in the neighborhood until they returned as a store for their homeward journey... these affectionate people, our guides, betrayed every emotion of unfeigned regret at separating from us..."
-Lewis. July 4, 1806
Lewis named the creek at this campsite "Seaman's" in honor of his Newfoundland retriever.
"...we encamped on the lower side of the last creek (Seaman's Creek) just above its entrance where a war party had encamped about 2 months since and concealed their fires."
-Lewis. July 5.1806
"our encampment on a large creek some little distance above its mouth through a beautiful plain on the border of which we passed the remains of 32 old lodges... great number of the burrowing squirrels in this prairie... saw some goats and deer... Curloow, bee Martains, woodpecker, plover, robins, doves, ravens, hawks and a variety of sparrows common to the plains..."
-Lewis. July 6, 1806
From the historical marker