Arrival at Camp River Dubois

Photo: NPS

On December 12, 1803, William Clark wrote in his journal:
“…nearly opposite the Missouries I came to in the mouth of a little River called Wood River, about 2 oClock…”

Almost immediately upon landing at this site, which Meriwether Lewis had previously selected based on local information, a severe early winter storm would pummel the men.

According to Gary E. Moulton in his notes in Volume 2 of “The Definitive Journals of Lewis & Clark,” this site was on the south side of a small river known as Wood River. The river was named Riviére á Dubois after a long forgotten Frenchman, not because of the trees along the banks. The translation of Wood River was what it was known by 1803, but originally it was likely to have been “Wood’s River.”

The next day, December 13, 1803, work would begin on constructing Camp River Dubois.