Jean Baptiste LePage

From Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail:

It’s been a while since we looked at one of the men of the core Corps – those who made the trip from Fort Mandan to the Pacific. Today, we’ll look at Jean Baptiste LePage.

LePage was a newcomer, joining the Expedition at Fort Mandan, replacing Private John Newman who was court martialed and dismissed in 1804. Born on August 20, 1761 in today’s Kaskaskia, Illinois, he was a French-Canadian fur trader who lived among the Hidatsa and Mandan. Since he’d already traveled farther up the Missouri than most whites, his knowledge was valuable to the Captains, so they enlisted him on November 2, 1804.

He’s not mentioned much in the journals and even on his day of enlistment Captain Lewis just described him as of “no particular merit.”

LePage’s life after the Expedition was also uneventful, it seems. He married, but the date and name of his spouse is unknown. Supposedly, he had five children, but that’s questionable if he didn’t marry until after he returned with the Corps. Because it’s believed he died in late 1809 in St. Louis (estate probate proceedings are documented there in July 1810), it’s possible, but doubtful he was able to father five children in three years. 




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The Flow Of Information Was A Little Slower

From Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail:

For those of us who have read the journals of Lewis and Clark or the others, we know that nearly every stream or river west of Fort Mandan was named by the Captains. Yet today, few of their names appear on current maps. Why is that?

It’s probably due to the fact of how long it took for the journals to be published and distributed. Trappers and miners who came after the Expedition in the early 19th century also gave the rivers names, not realizing that Lewis and Clark had already named them. 

For example, today’s Monture Creek in Montana was originally named Seaman’s Creek after Lewis’s pet dog.