Lewis and Clark in the Hamilton Area

It was a cold and miserable September when Lewis and Clark first came into the Hamilton area.

Lewis and Clark entered the Bitterroot valley on a cloudy, drizzly day, September 4th, 1805. They did not consider the valley as the climate mecca it is seen as today, but as a cold, inhospitable spot. The expedition, along with Sacajawea and her young infant, had just come down over Lost Trail Pass, where they had lost the trail in the sleet and snow, even though they were being led by a local Indian guide named Tobe.

The expedition had traversed the Continental Divide twice coming from the area of Dillon, Montana over into the Lemhi Valley and Salmon, Idaho. After determining that the Salmon River was, indeed, impassable--as they had been told by their Indian guides, they had headed north for Montana again.

On the morning of September 4th, everything was wet and frozen, and the ground was covered with snow. They followed the Bitterroot river drainage into the valley where they met a village of Flathead which they reported as having 33 lodges, some 440 people and 500 horses.

The expedition purchased 13 more horses from the Flatheads. On September 6th the expedition set off down the valley following the Bitterroot river to Lolo Creek. At Lolo Creek they named their camp, "Travellers Rest." Hunters sent up Lolo Creek from the Travellers Rest camp met three Flatheads, one of whom agreed to accompany the Expedition as a guide over the Bitterroot mountains and introduce them to his people who lived on the other side at a place where they could build dougouts and sail to the ocean.

The next day the Expedition headed up Lolo Pass following the Nez Perce trial.