Chapter 12 Up the Missouri May - July 1804 Summary and Analysis

By dint of nearly superhuman endurance and raw physical strength, the party forces the heavy keelboat against the current of the mighty Missouri River, making up to twenty miles progress some days. The party reaches the Osage River, the Kansas River, and then the Platte River, passing tiny outposts of advance settlers and trappers. One settlement of note is Boone's Settlement in Kentucky—founded by Daniel Boone. History does not record whether Lewis and Clark meet Boone. Strangely, throughout much of this period Lewis keeps no daily journal. Instead, he apparently spends his time walking ashore and collection plants, animals, and soils specimens while Clark, the better river-man, manages the progress of the keelboat. Lewis does issue a comprehensive Detachment Order, which allows modern historians to partially reconstruct...