The Lewis and Clark Expedition spent five months from Dec. 12, 1803 to May 14, 1804 in winter camp at the mouth of Wood River, where Meriwether Lewis and William Clark prepared boats, supplies, maps, and men of the Corps of Discovery for the journey west. Clark had the keelboat modified with lockers, a swivel-mounted cannon, two swivel blunderbusses, and a jointed mast, while Lewis gathered information in St. Louis about the Missouri River and the Indian tribes upriver. The men built wooden cabins, hunted, practiced marksmanship, packed nearly 30 tons of cargo, and the captains chose the permanent party for the expedition, though their maps badly underestimated western distances and the difficulty of crossing the Rocky Mountains. On May 8, Clark tested the keelboat, and on May 14, 1804, the expedition crossed the Mississippi and entered the Missouri, departing under what Lewis considered the true starting point of the journey. Clark recorded the makeup of the departing party, which is thought to have numbered about 42 men, though Lewis remained in St. Louis briefly and joined the expedition later at St. Charles. The party camped first near Green Island, then traveled to Piper's Landing and to the French village of St. Charles, the largest town on the Missouri River, where they bought final supplies and enlisted Pierre Cruzatte and Francois Labiche as navigators before setting out for the Pacific on May 21 with cheers from the riverbank. On the return in 1806, Lewis and Clark made their final camp at Fort Bellefontaine, whose garrison honored them with a 17-gun salute, and on Sept. 23, 1806, the expedition briefly stopped at Wood River before reaching St. Louis, where the town welcomed the party and celebrated the end of its long journey.
