On July 4, 1804, the U.S. Army expedition led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark camped in this vicinity and marked the nation’s 28th birthday by firing the swivel cannon on the bow of their keelboat once in the morning and again at day’s end. During the day, the party named two local streams Fourth of July 1804 Creek and Independence Creek, the first time they celebrated the 4th of July during the expedition. Clark wrote that because one creek had no name and it was the day of independence, they called it 4th of July 1804 Creek, and that they camped above the mouth of another creek twenty yards wide that they called Creek Independence. The men received an extra gill of whiskey, and expedition members appeared on the Fourth of July in striking regimental coats. During the journey west, impromptu ceremonies marked three holidays: Fourth of July, Christmas, and New Year’s, while other occasions, such as Lewis’ birthday, a notable discovery, or particularly difficult days, were marked by issuing a dram of liquor.