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Capt. Clark Explores the Yellowstone
Waiting for Lewis
While waiting, he summarized his notes on the river and country he had passed through. He recorded the total miles from where he had first reached the Yellowstone to where he was camped at its mouth to be 837 miles, of which he had traveled 636 by canoe. He also said a trading fort on this river was preferable to one on the Missouri because more Indians from more tribes would use it. He recommended a fort at the mouth of Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone, which is a short distance upriver from present day Billings. Another very good location would be at the mouth of the Bighorn. Fort Raymond was built at the Bighorn in 1807 but survived for just a few years.
Capt. Clark and his party had reached the predetermined meeting point with Capt. Lewis, but after two days there he decided to move farther downriver. The mosquitoes were so fierce the men couldn’t do their chores. Hunting and sleeping were impossible. Capt. Clark even speculated that the deer couldn’t endure them. He attributed the animals’ poor condition to their inability to eat or drink due to the pesky mosquitos.
Capt. Clark left Capt. Lewis a note on a pole and pushed off, headed downriver. They spent four days moving slowly and looking for a place to wait that wasn’t so infested with mosquitoes. Hunting parties were out every day. Game was so scarce it took a concentrated effort to get the daily meat supply.
On the morning of August 8, Sgt. Pryor and his group that was to take the horses overland to Fort Mandan came floating up in bullboats; they had no horses. Pryor related his story to Captain Capt. Clark.
The enormous herds of buffalo that Clark was witnessing along the river was the annual migration of the buffalo south from their summer range to the winter range in the Great Plains.
The buffalo spread out into small groups on the summer range, much like cattle grazing in a pasture. When their food supply dwindles these small groups gather into larger herds. The farther they migrate the larger the herds grow until they are as big as those Clark saw.
Migration for the animals is not dependent on time of year but on supply of food. The prairies of eastern Montana receive little rainfall so the summer supply of food is short-lived. They must move on to where there is an adequate food supply for them.
A month later, after the Expedition was back together and had made their way farther downriver, Clark again saw some of these vast herds of buffalo grazing on the prairies of Kansas.