Native Peoples Encountered on the Lewis & Clark Expedition

From Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail:

Many people have wondered if Captains Lewis and Clark were prepared for what native peoples they would meet as they traveled up the Missouri River. Did they have any idea who they’d meet and where? 

The answer is without a doubt, yes. During the winter of 1803-04, as the men prepared for the Expedition at Camp Dubois, the Captains met with traders across the Mississippi in St. Louis – men who had already traveled part way up the intended route. Of most value was the journals and maps produced by James Mackay and John Evans, who had previously explored the upper Missouri under the Spanish flag in 1795. (More on them in the near future.) “The Mandaines,” wrote Mackay, “as well as all the other nations that inhabit to their West, near the Rocky Mountains, are in general people as good as they are mild who lay a great value on the friendship of the Whites.”

Mackay’s map was an important piece to the Expedition’s understanding of the landscape and the people. And a map by Evans became a major “road map” for approximately 700 miles of the route. It consisted of seven sheets showing the course of the river and the location of the Ponca, Omaha, Arikara, Mandan and Hidatsa settlements, as well as those points on the river where the Sioux often visited.

This image is of a portion of the map drawn based on the survey work of James Mackay. It is held at the Library of Congress. 




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