Packing for the Lewis & Clark Expedition - Montana Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Interpretive sign west of Lolo, Montana. Sign deals with Lewis and Clark.
Text of Sign: Packing for the Lewis & Clark Expedition
Imagine planning and packing for an 8,000-mile boating, hiking, and horseback trip from St. Louis, Missouri to the Pacific Ocean and back, knowing that the trip would take you more than two years! Since you’ll be hundreds of miles from home, you’ll need the skills to make what you need along the way.
Thorough planning and incredible resourcefulness were among the many amazing achievements of the 33 members of Lewis and Clark’s 1804-1806 Corp of Discovery. For most of the trip they traveled by water. Over mountain passes such as Lolo Pass, they carried their possessions on horses obtained from the Indians through trade. They divided up and packed supplies in separate containers to prevent loss and damage. They protected their journals in sealed tin cases and carried their navigating and mapping instruments in protective bladders. Blankets became cushions in packing boxes and barrels. Blankets became cushions in packing boxes and barrels. Boat and canoe paddles became parts of pack saddles. Lead was molded into sealable canisters to carry black powder and cast into bullets when empty.
While preparing for the expedition at Harpers Ferry Arsenal in Virginia, Captain Lewis supervised the fabrication of an iron-framed portable canoe called “the Experiment.” The portable iron frame was 36 feet long and four-and-one-half feet wide. Its maiden voyage was on the Missouri River near Great Falls. The frame was covered with 28 elk and four buffalo hides. To “pay her seams,” the brought “Voyager’s grease,” a paste of charcoal, beeswax, and tallow. When launched, “she lay like a perfect cork in the water,” but a few hours later the seams opened and the canoe sank. This “mortifyed me not a little” wrote Lewis.
Silver and bronze peace medals were obtained from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia as gifts to the Indians.
Captain Meriwether Lewis used his branding iron to mark packing containers and trees near their campsites. leaving proof of ownership and their passage.
To attract American Indian trade, Lewis and Clark used speeches, ceremonies, gifts and displays of mystifying technology such as a magnet, watch, and telescope. One curiosity was an air gun Lewis purchased from a clock maker and gunsmith in Philadelphia. It looked like a muzzle-loading flintlock, but used an ingenious pneumatic pump and air reservoir in its buttstock and discharged up to 40 shots without further pump action.
Congress originally appropriated $2,500 for the expedition, but it ended up costing #38,722. Government accounting lists were prepared to keep track of expenditures. When finally assembled, Lewis estimated the weight of his small mountain of supplies and equipment at 2,300 pounds

Describe the area and history: Sign is located along U.S. Hwy. 12 southwest of Lolo Hot Springs.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/09/2010 Volcanoguy visited it