By the time Old Dorion was recruited, as the days and miles melded, a general routine was being established that would be employed all the way to the Pacific and back. In May and June the party usually traveled as much as 14 to 20 miles a day, sometimes even 26 or 27 miles, or as few as 4 or 5. Camp was made at the most convenient and accessible spots: along the banks of the river, on sandbars, and whenever possible on islands, which offered special protection from any unwelcome visitors—animal or man. Guarded by sentries, the men slept in the boats or in tents.
Some days, Lewis and Clark stopped to rest the complement, repair equipment, or reload the cargo and straighten the boats; or else they took advantage of the opportunity to do so when summer rains and storms held the group in camp. With minor exceptions, the permanent personnel rode in the keelboat, Warfington's detachment in the white pirogue, and the French boatmen in the red pirogue.
compass
Clark carried this compass, now in the Smithsonian Institution, with him to the Pacific and return. The instrument is embedded in walnut, and the carrying case is of leather. (Smithsonian Institution.)
The military organization, which had been initiated at Camp Wood, was refined. Lewis and Clark commanded through the three sergeants, who rotated in performing key duties on the keelboat. Ordway, in effect the First Sergeant, issued provisions and appointed guard details. All the sergeants maintained duty rosters for the assignment of chores to their squads. The cooks and a few others with special assignments were exempted from guard duty, pitching tents, collecting firewood, and making fires.
No cooking was done during the day's travel. Daily provisions were ordinarily issued and cooked in the evening, a portion being reserved for consumption during the next day. The entire party was divided into messes for cooking and eating. Their composition and number varied from time to time, but en route to the Mandan villages they usually numbered three. One accommodated permanent enlisted personnel, another Warfington's detachment, and the other the French boatmen. Lewis, Clark, York, and Drouillard ate with one or the other of the messes.
To maintain a maximum supply of preserved provisions for possible future emergencies, the expedition lived off the land as much as possible. For this reason, no salt pork was issued when fresh meat was available; and, when feasible, excess venison was jerked—cut in long, thin slices—and dried in the sun to carry along.
journals
Special display of the original Lewis and Clark journals, arranged through the courtesy of the American Philosophical Society. Clark drew the sketch of the fish. (American Philosophical Society.)
A well-defined hunting procedure was inaugurated immediately upon leaving St. Charles. Two men were left behind there to bring up two horses, brought from St. Louis to the south bank of the river. Hunters rode them, and when game was killed some distance from the river they packed the meat to the riverbank, where the boats picked it up. The number of horses, which at one time totaled four, changed from time to time as one or more were lost or strays were found.
Usually the hunters set out from camp in the morning and rejoined the main party in the evening. Drouillard, a master woodsman, was the principal hunter. An important assistant was Reuben Field. Aiding them were Joseph Field and, as time went on, John Colter and young George Shannon, sometimes supplemented by one or two others. On occasion, Lewis and Clark themselves lent a hand.
Clark, more the riverman, usually stayed on the keelboat, while Lewis often walked along shore and observed flora and fauna. Both of them, alert and interested in the new country they were passing through, avidly filled their journals, usually at day's end, with accurate and detailed descriptions of topography, plant and wild life, drainage, and mineral resources. They also recorded distances and directions traveled, temperature, weather conditions, and latitude and longitude. To determine latitude, celestial observations were made with the sextant and quadrant; for longitude, the chronometer was used. But dead reckoning was a major means of navigation. Clark did the mapping.
journal
Journal of Sgt. John Ordway, Vol. I, now held by the American Philosophical Society. (American Philosophical Society.)
Lewis, who had served as President Jefferson's secretary and was better educated, wrote in a more literate and usually lengthier fashion than Clark, whose English was rough but no less colorful. The latter in particular, and Lewis to a lesser degree, employed spelling and punctuation that would not meet modern standards. But they were essentially frontiersmen who lived in a day when the educational level was lower and there was less concern with spelling and grammar. Grammatical merit aside, Lewis and Clark wrote with an enthusiasm, breadth of mind, and lack of pretension or boastfulness that makes a reading of their journals an unforgettable experience.
