A plan for Camp Dubois drawn and written by William Clark around the end of December, 1803, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
In the Winter of 1803-1804 Lewis and Clark spent their time at Camp Dubois on the east of the Mississippi River. As spring was near, the members of the expedition gathered supplies and food, and loaded the boats. On May 14, 1804, the expedition made their way up the Missouri River. The expedition began with writing in their journals and mapmaking. As the explorers encountered new rivers or streams, they were responsible for naming them. They named some rivers after famous Americans. They did the same for animals and plants they encountered.
July 1804
In July, the expedition camped north of the Platte River, at a site called Council Bluff. On August 3, at Council Bluff, Lewis and Clark had their first meeting with Otoe and Missouri Native Americans.
In late August and September, the landscape along the river changed, forests receded, buffalo were seen grazing and prairie dogs were first sighted. On October 26, 1804, the crew started building Fort Mandan, about 1,600 miles from Camp Dubois.
Winter 1804
Sacagawea on a U.S. golden dollar coin, 2005, United States Mint
During winter, Lewis and Clark met a French-Canadian trader, Toussaint Charbonneau, who they persuaded to come with them as an interpreter, along with his Native American, pregnant wife, Sacagawea. On February 11, Sacagawea had her baby, Jean Baptiste. Lewis and Clark soon realized Sacagawea would be very useful as an interpreter, and believed the presence of a woman and child would signal that their party was peaceful.
"Charbono and his Indian woman were also of the party; the Indian woman was very impo[r]tunate to be permitted to go, and was therefore indulged; she observed that she had traveled a long way with us to see the great waters, and that now that monstrous fish was also to be seen, she thought it very hard she could not be permitted to see either" -Meriwether Lewis