200 years ago…this was the second and final week Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery spent in North Dakota as they made their way back to St. Louis. It was a week of hellos and goodbyes during a three day sojourn at the Knife River villages where the Corps had spent the winter of 1804 and 5.

The flotilla reached the village of the Mandan Chief Black Cat on August 14, 1806. William Clark noted, “we directed the Blunderbusses fired Several times ... those people were extremely pleased to See us…” Sergeant John Ordway called them “our old neighbors” in his journal.

On the evening of the 14th one of the men, Private John Coulter, expressed a desire to separate from the expedition and go back to the Yellowstone country to seek his fortune as a trapper. Captain Clark agreed to let him go “provided no one of the party would ask or expect a similar permission, to which they all agreed…”and “…they wished Coulter every success.”

On the 15th, Coulter was paid $179 for his services and given powder, lead and other provisions for his new venture. Two days later he was heading back upstream with two new partners. He would spend several years in the Yellowstone and Upper Missouri country and become a frontier legend, credited as the first white man to observe many of the features of Yellowstone Park.

On August 16, the villagers offered corn to the expedition for their journey. Clark dispatched Sergeant Pryor to get the corn. He returned saying, “…they had more corn collected for us than our canoes could carry.”

The day was spent smoking and conversing with the Chiefs, and the Corps made a gift of their swivel gun to one of the Chiefs “with great ceremony.” Clark noted, “Our swivel could no longer be serviceable to us as it could not be fired on board the largest pirogue.”

August 17, 1806 was a special day among the eight-hundred-sixty-some days of the journey of Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery. Tune in to Dakota Datebook on the 17th for more…including the farewell to Sacagawea, Charbonneau, and their son Jean Baptiste, and the departure of the Corps from the Knife River villages, with Chief White Coyote and family on board.

And a reminder…These events are commemorated later this week at the 2006 Lewis & Clark Bicentennial National Signature Event at New Town, North Dakota. The event—hosted by the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation—is entitled “Reunion at the Home of Sakakawea.”

According to the event Web site, “The major themes of this Signature Event will center around Sakakawea and her life before, during, and after the expedition; the Missouri River and its impact on the lives of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara and other tribes that hold this river sacred; tribal leadership and the political, social, and ceremonial organization of tribes 200 years ago and today; tribal networks; and international trade.”

“This four-day event will feature scholarly symposia; reenactments and dramatic presentations; an art exhibition and a trade fair; indigenous games; land and water parades; singing and traditional dance competitions and a fur trade rendezvous.”

Don’t miss it!...Thursday, August 17 through Sunday, August 20.

Written by Russell Ford-Dunker

Note: Spelling is corrected in journal quotes for ease of reading.
Sources:
Reid, Russell. Lewis and Clark in North Dakota. (1948). Bismarck, ND: State Historical Society of North Dakota.
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/archive
http://www.mhanationhomeofsakakawea.com/signature_event.html

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