Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Bicentennial

Buffalo also called Bison

The buffalo was used by the plains Indians for food, the hides used for clothing and making Teepee's, the bones were used as tools. There were once millions of them but now there are only a few thousand that remain.

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Drawing by: Christie Fite, Age 9, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Teepee's:Plains Indians traveled far to forested areas to get poles for their teepees They even traded valuable goods such as buffalo hides, and arrowheads to obtain poles from other tribes. For each teepee, they killed and skinned more than a dozen buffalo, soaked the hides in a mixture of ash and water, scraped off the hair, and scoured the hides with the brains of the buffalo to help preserve the hide from rotting. With a sharpened bone, they worked over the hides for hours, then they smoked it to make it soft. Often the hides were painted with designs made from the juice of berries and other plants. The designs on teepees were believed to protect the owners against misfortune and sickness. Many of the designs were from dreams and visions. Some of the Indian tribes encountered by Lewis and Clark which used the teepee were the Blackfeet, Assiniboine, Yankton Sioux, and Shoshone. When Lewis and Clark visited the Yankton Sioux camp, the captains and their men sat around fires at the center of what Clark described as "a village consisting of about 40 handsome, cone-shaped lodges covered with red and white painted buffalo and elk skins." This was the first time Clark had seen teepees The smoke from a fire in the center of the teepee traveled up and out of a hole left in the top. Families of 12-15 people lived in each of the large teepees When it was time to move, the women of the tribe took down the teepees and loaded then on to poles called travois, which were dragged by horses and dogs.

The drawings below are from children in Mrs. Woodman's class at Eunice Smith School in Alton, Illinois. More from her class will soon be displayed. As you can see Lewis and Clark were very busy before they left from Wood River. They built a fort, talked with Indians about the journey, packed their boats with supplies and trained the men who would travel with them.

Drawing by Christopher Rhoads, Age 10, Alton, Illinois
Picture is of the Corp having a shooting match against the Indian tribes while at Camp Dubois before they set out from Wood River in May of 1804.

Drawing by Courtney Twichell, age 11, Alton, Illinois: Eunice Smith School

Camp River Dubois is where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1803-04 before setting out up the Missouri. They built a fort to protect them and their supplies.

Drawing by Emma Waldrup, Age 10, Alton, Illinois.
The Corp traveled up the Missouri in pirogues and a keep boat with all their food and supplies.

Drawings by Courtney Allsman (Left) and Jackie Pohlman (Right) both 11 years old of Sacagawea- the only woman on the expedition. She joined Lewis & Clark during the winter of 1804-05 at the Mandan Indian Villages. She was a Shoshoni and born about 1788. She had been captured by the Minnitaree when she was about 12 years old and later became one of the wives of Charbonneau. She gave birth to a boy named Jean Baptiste and he was only 55 days old when they left the Mandan Villages. Sacagawea carried him all the way to the Pacific and back. She was very helpful in finding food and help save important items when one of the boats tipped over in the river. Her name means "Bird Woman". It has also be spelled: Sacajawea and Sakakawea.

Life at Camp- Fort River Dubois:




Above drawings by Adam Paulda (Top-Left) Age 11, Mary Anderson (Top- Right) Age 11, Conner Haynes (Left-Middle) Age 11, Craig (Right-Middle) Age 10, David Lauschke (Bottom-Left) Age 11, Kara Garrott (Bottom-Right) Age 10. Pictures tell many stories. Winter days and snowball fights at the fort. A keel boat with the sails blowing in the wind. Watching over the fort with a big Newfoundland dog named Seaman. Target practice and shooting competitions, while Indians watch from the nearby hills.



Above Drawings by: Hayley Woszczynski, Age 11(Top-Left) . Tyler Jackson Age 11(Top-Right). Nick Edwards Age 10(Bottom-Left). Abby Harmon Age 11(Bottom-Right) . Pictures tell many stories...Watching out for the fort. Keeping Guard on the supplies. Loading supplies on the boats and setting sail up the Missouri.
	Drawing by Nora Daniels, Age 10 of Lewis drawing a picture of a deer. Lewis drew many pictures of animals and plants during the 2 1/2 years he was gone.
	Drawing by Trevor Parr, Age 11 of Camp River Dubois where Lewis & Clark traded with the Indians, prepared for their long trip and even played music and danced with other members of the Corp.
	Drawing by Clay Chamberlain, Age 11 of a White-tailed deer which Lewis and Clark saw many of. They hunted them and used the meat for food and the skins for clothing.
	Drawing by Rachel Hagley, Age 11 of the three boats that Lewis & Clark used to travel up the Missouri. They had a keel boat and two pirogues...one was white and one was red. They carried all their supplies on these boats all the way to the Mandan Villages more than a 1000 miles upstream.

Hey kids of all ages! How would you like to help me out with this web site, and see your pictures on the Internet? If your interested, then please draw or paint a colorful picture and send it to me. I would like you to use colored pencils, paint, crayon, felt marker, chalk, or finger-paints to make a picture of something from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. You can either make one of an entire scene or a single object.

Some ideas for single objects are: Elk, Deer, Bear, Antelope, Birds, Mountains, Trees, Flowers, Fish, Compass, Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, Keel Boat, dugout canoes, Teepee's, Indians, Horses, Rifles etc. These are just a few ideas. Please use your imagination and create a colorful picture.

If you would like to make a picture of an entire scene, some ideas to consider are: Lewis and Clark paddling a dugout canoe, expedition members riding on horses across the plains, members hunting for deer and buffalo, trading with the Indians, camping along the river, Clark making maps of the river, cooking and eating around a campfire, portaging around the Great Falls of the Missouri, or camping near Beacon Rock on the Columbia. These are some examples.

If your picture is colorful, unusual, and tells a story, it may end up on this page. I cannot guarantee that it will however. In return for letting me put you picture on the Internet, I will state your name,age,school, and hometown so you can brag to your friends and family.

Please make the pictures no larger than an 8 x 10 piece of paper. Make then very colorful and somewhat detailed so it will scan clearly. Please enclose your name,age, school name,hometown, and tell me something that you have learned about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Please mail to:
2004 Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Expedition
PO Box 2004
Livingston, MT 59047