In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned an exploration to trace the Missouri River to its source and find a water route to the Pacific Ocean.
Under the leadership of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark the Corps of Discovery covered almost 8,000 miles from St. Louis, Missouri, to the mouth of the Columbia River, returning two years later. They journeyed westward across Montana from April 1805 to September of that year. On the return trip to St. Louis in the summer of 1806, the leaders crossed Montana using two separate routes.
Beaverhead Rock
By August 8, 1805, Lewis and Clark had become concerned about their difficulty in contacting the Shoshone. Over 2,000 miles from home, with an unknown distance ahead of them, they needed to find horses. Sacagawea had confirmed that they had entered lands familiar to the Lemhi Shoshone, but they hadn’t run into any of the Shoshone. They had traveled almost the length of Montana without seeing another human being.
Clark's Lookout
On August 13, 1805, Captain Clark climbed the high bluff that was later named after him. Here he looked out over the Beaverhead Valley. Unknown to Clark, Lewis had met with 60 warriors of the Shoshone and was working to establish a meeting at what would become known as Camp Fortunate.
The Montana Historical Society put this compass at the top of Clark's Lookout so you could look in the direction he did and be able to see what he was looking for.
Point of Rocks
I could not find any information on the rocks but, they are just outside of Dillon coming into town from Idaho.
Camp Fortunate
On August 13, 1805, Lewis finally made contact with more of Sacagawea's tribe. He was anxious to trade for horses to cross the mountain ranges ahead, but moved cautiously when he at last approached an entire camp of the Shoshone.
Lewis waited anxiously for Clark to arrive. Clark was held back by a wrong turn, the strength of the Big Hole River, and the shallow, rocky waters of the Jefferson River. The Shoshone were eager to reach the buffalo hunting ground in the east. Lewis finally had to hand his rifles over to the Shoshone to convince them they were not allies of an enemy tribe laying a trap. Lewis' luck improved when Clark finally arrived and a woman of the tribe recognized Sacagawea almost immediately. Camp fortunate is where they found out that they could no longer us their canoes. It is now under the Lake at Clark Canyon.
Lemhi Pass
Lemhi Pass is where they thought that they would be able to see the ocean. It is where they thought they would find the headwaters of the Missouri River. They were wrong. It is were they crossed the Continental Divide.
If you stand on one side of the Continental Divide your are in Idaho the other side you are in Montana.
This is where they thought they would find the headwaters.
When they got to the top of Lemhi Pass they thought that they would see the Pacific Ocean. All they saw were more mountains. It must have been discouraging.
