Chapter 18 From Fort Mandan to Marias River April 7 - June 2, 1805 Summary and Analysis

The expedition departs in early spring. Lewis refuses several last-minute offers of sexual adventure for the officers and men, even declining to take along several squaws for routine camp company. For many days, Clark guides the river teams of pirogues and canoes while Lewis with a few picked men hikes along the shore, hunting, recording observations, and collecting specimens. Because of the large number of the party—around thirty-five souls—a prodigious amount of meat is needed every day. Lewis constantly notes in his journals that game of all kinds is wonderfully abundant and, unalarmed by humans, easy to secure.

For most of the upriver trek Lewis and Clark find the voyage exactly as the Hidatsas had described. Major rivers are...