3/21/2012:
Unlike present day “snowbirds,” the Lewis & Clark expedition members were gearing up to leave North Dakota after the snow. Today in 1805, on the heels of a torturous winter near the Missouri Riverbanks, ice-locked boats were being freed from their frosty confines as the explorers prepared for their Westward journey.
Fort Mandan had served them well through the brutal assault of winter. In the fort, young Sacagawea tended to her son, Jean Baptist, born the previous month. Earlier in the fall, Sacagawea’s husband Charbonneau indicated he might not join the expedition, possibly wanting more money, less work, or both. He was persuaded to change his mind. Think of how his decision could have affected the storyline of the Corps of Discovery – deprived of Sacagawea and little John Baptiste.
Now, with spring approaching, and looming preparations for renewed travel into the unknown, the men struggled to release their boats from the icy bondage that had held them through the winter. Under a cloudy sky, dusted by a sprinkling of snow, the men carried two freed canoes to the riverside to be readied, with three more canoes yet to come.
Ever the curious scientist, Lewis made a few final passes over the landscape. He wrote: “I collected some the different Pumice Stone & a hard earth and put them into a furnace. I also collected a plant the root of which is a cure for the Bite of a mad dog & snake." The plant Lewis collected was a purple coneflower – another sample of the flora and fauna of the Missouri River Valley. His coneflowers added to the botanical wonders the Easterners had come upon in the great West.
Lewis chronicled prep work in his journal, and related a tutorial from Garreau, the savvy Frenchman who was wise to the Mandan Indian lifestyle and customs. Garreau demonstrated to the captains the crafting of beadwork the Indians made and wore.
In the March thaw, on this day, the anxious corps made ready to press onward.
Dakota Datebook written by Steve Stark
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