Three Forks: Clark's Party Splits

At the Three Forks, Clark's party divided. Six canoes and 10 men under the command of Sergt. Ordway set out to travel down the Missouri to the Great Falls, while Captain Clark with a party of 12, 49 horses, and a colt set out for the Yellowstone River. Clark wrote on July 13, 1806, that the Indian woman who had been of great service to him as a pilot through the country recommended a gap in the mountains farther south that he would cross.

Montana · United States