blackfoot-valley

The Lewis party would be crossing territory entirely new to any of them. For Clark, the journey to and descent of the Yellowstone would be an even longer yet-untraveled stretch. Clark and Lewis both fully realized that dividing forces for the sake of exploring a greater region entailed the risk of making three smaller groups vulnerable to possible Indian attack, especially Lewis’s small party going through Blackfoot country. The friendly Nez Perce guides who had brought them safely over the difficult Lolo trail were gloomy about Lewis’s prospects, telling him that the “Pahkees” (which seems to have simply meant “enemies” ) would likely cut them off - or down. So, at Traveler’s Rest, the parties separated on July 3rd, 1806. Lewis’s men camped that night on the southwestern outskirts of present day Mis- soula. The next day, on the young United States’ thirtieth birthday, their five remaining Nez Perce guides left them regretfully after providing directions for the way ahead. Lewis and his men crossed the Clark Fork (which should have been named the Lewis Fork since Clark never saw it), passed through what is now the site of downtown Missoula, and five miles beyond, started up the “Lewis and Clark trading with the Indians” @ Jim Carson Studio.com 63