Fort Peck Dam. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has operated the dam since 1940. Stretching across the upper Missouri River in northeastern Montana, it is the furthest upstream of six dams and reservoir projects built on the mainstem of the upper Missouri River. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

Drowning the Missouri River — Lewis and Clark on the Reservoirs!

The Missouri was a wild, free-flowing river when Lewis and Clark began their epic western journey in 1804. Today, much of that river is a series of reservoirs.
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Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast. It was near here in early 1806 that Sacagawea insisted she be allowed to join the expedition team going to see a whale that had washed up on the shore.

Sacagawea and the Blue Whale

Sacagawea’s insistence that she be allowed to join the reconnaissance team heading to see the great beached whale is one of the rarest instances in the entire Lewis and Clark journey where we hear her voice.
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Meriwether Lewis was ignobly shot in the buttocks by his visually impaired hunting companion, Pierre Cruzatte, on their return to civilization in 1806

How Meriwether Lewis’ Unfortunate Hunting Mishap Brought to Mind the Bounty of American Consumer Capitalism

On the 221st anniversary of Meriwether Lewis’ hunting calamity, Clay ponders salt, macrobiotics, and an earlier extended personal journey on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
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My Montana Summer

Clay Jenkinson reports on his month-long adventure crisscrossing Montana in the long-since-passed footsteps of Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery.
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Though Thomas Jefferson never saw the Missouri River, it (and Mrs. Maria Cosway) held a special fascination for him. (ChatGDP Image by Clay Jenkinson)

Hunting Rivers’ Sources on the Upper Missouri

Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, and Clay Jenkinson all share a fascination with the origins of rivers.
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The Quest for the Authentic on the Lewis and Clark Trail

As Clay Jenkinson leads his annual canoe trip through a remote section of the Missouri River, a sudden thunderstorm makes for dramatic challenges
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Meriwether Lewis’ Deadly Encounter

Clay reports on his visit to the remote Montana site where Lewis and Clark had their only fatal encounter with Native Americans on their historic 1804-1806 expedition.
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Aerial view of Clay, Nolan and Brian's

On the Missouri River With Two Rapscallions

When I began to plan for my 2025 retracing of the Lewis and Clark expedition, hauling an Airstream from Jefferson’s Virginia across the country to Astoria, Oregon, I realized I was planning a paradox.
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Clay wrestling with his leaky RV shower. (Image courtesy of Clay and ChatGPT)

My Saga of the Leaky Shower in the Montana Back Country

Thanks to YouTube, persistence, and bloody knuckles, a hot shower gets pretty close to paradise.
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Clay at the Missouri River just east of Great Falls, MT. In the background is Belt Creek, where the Lewis and Clark Expedition began their 18.5-mile, one-month portage around the five falls of the Missouri River in June/July of 1805.

At Great Falls, Montana

I’m spending the 4th of July at the Great Falls of the Missouri River in north-central Montana, where Lewis and Clark visited on the same day in 1805.
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