Decision Point

Photo: The Marias River, north of its confluence with the Missouri,  courtesy of Jim Wark. 

From June 3 -12, 1805, the men of the Corps were perplexed.
Before them were two rivers, one coming from the north, the other from the south. Which was the Missouri?

At their camp on the lower side of what would eventually be named the Marias River, they measured both rivers. The southern river was 372 yards across; the northern was 200 yards. But the northern stream was deeper and had all the characteristics of being the primary stream.

Captain Lewis took a few men and headed up the river coming from the north, while Captain Clark and party explored the southern option. On June 8 both groups would compare notes at the main camp.

Every member of the Corps believed the river coming from the north was the way to travel. But the two Captains prevailed in their viewpoint that the southern river was the Missouri. Meriwether Lewis wrote, “They said very cheerfully that they were ready to follow us any wher we thought proper to direct but that they still thought that the other was the river…”

We know today the Captains were correct and in a few days, the men would come face-to-face with the Great Falls of the Missouri, one of the toughest obstacles of the entire journey.