Lewis and Clark expert covers expedition's dangerous push home

Lewis and Clark's push home through hostile Indian territory is the subject of a talk Monday, June 19, in Kalispell.

Historian Hal Stearns covers the expedition's decision to split up while exploring Montana's Missouri, Yellowstone and Marias Rivers on their way back to St. Louis. William Clark would explore the Yellowstone River through southeast Montana. Meriwether Lewis would return to the Missouri River. The expedition would reunite where the two rivers meet in present-day North Dakota.

Lewis would also explore the Marias River, whose spring flows had been confused with the Missouri, and see how far north it reached.

The divided expedition would test the military skills of Army Captains Lewis and Clark. The Great Plains were populated by Blackfeet, Crows and Souix who were ready to prey on the small parties.

The story starts as the group recuperates at Travelers Rest in June 1806 after barely surviving the trip across Lolo Pass in 12-15 feet of snow. Lewis headed up the Indian “Buffalo Road” and onto the Great Plains with 10 men. After uniting with 11 men sent down the Missouri by Clark at the Great Falls, and digging up buried caches, Lewis split up again and headed north with three men to intercept the Marias River.

Things soon turned sour. At first, it was stolen horses. Then Marias' chain of tributaries headed stubbornly west, and Lewis gave up near present-day Browning at a place he named “Camp Disappointment.” And a day after turning back there was a confrontation with Blackfeet teenagers who left two of the youngsters dead. A rush back to the Missouri followed, with the party fleeing 70 miles in a day.

Meanwhile, Clark was having his own problems on the Yellowstone River with the Crow tribe stealing his horses.

Lewis was almost to the junction of the Yellowstone and Missouri in present North Dakota, when, dressed in deer hide, he was shot by one of his own men while hunting. When he finally united with Clark, it was with the indignity of being confined to the boat with a wound through his rear.

Stearns has been honored as Montana's Teacher of the Year and Montana's Outstanding U.S. History Teacher and has led tours and lectured in over 40 states and five foreign countries.

He is a member of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation Board and the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission in Montana. He is also a retired Brigadier General in the Montana Army National Guard who regularly speaks on the expedition's military organization.

The talk is a monthly presentation of the Northwest Montana Posse of Westerners, a local history group. It starts at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the Montana History Museum, at 124 2nd Ave. East in Kalispell. Cost is $5 for the general public, with posse members and youths under 16 admitted free.

The program is made possible with assistance from Humanities Montana.