Whose Accomplishments?

Panoramic photo of Lemhi Pass.

NPS photo

After Meriwether Lewis and some of his crew passed through the most difficult segments of Lemhi Pass, he wrote in his journal, “I had accomplished one of those great objects on which my mind has been unalterably fixed for many years, judge then of the pleasure I felt in allying my thirst with this pure and ice cold water.”

Reading that passage, it can be easy to think that Lewis accomplished this on his own.

But he only made it to the pass, and then over it, with the help of local Indigenous people.

These areas were home to other people. What felt like a feat of strength for Lewis was a product of generations of Indigenous knowledge, generously shared by families greeting the strangers passing through their homelands.

How did the those living in the areas traversed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition experience these same events?

About this article: This article is part of a series called “Pivotal Places: Stories from the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.”