On July 18, 1805, Captain Meriwether Lewis passed the entrance of a considerable river on the starboard side, about two and a half miles away, and described it as about eighty yards wide, nearly as wide as the Missouri there, with a rapid current, extremely transparent water, a bed of small smooth stones, narrow bottoms, timber like the Missouri, and a mountainous, broken country through which it passed; judging that it might be navigable to an uncertain extent, he named the handsome, bold, clear stream Dearborn's River in honor of the Secretary of War. The expedition's campsite for July 17, 1805, was near this area, and after this camp the entire group would not be able to camp together for some time. During the next part of their journey through present-day Montana, the expedition divided and explored in different directions, with Captain Lewis going ahead of Captain Clark and his party. The expedition was seeking American Indian tribes to trade canoes for horses because the navigable water was running out, and on July 22, 1805, the two parties reconnected in the middle of present-day Canyon Ferry Reservoir, south of present-day Helena, Montana.