What Happened to the Keelboat?

Photo: NPS

We’re occasionally asked, “What happened to the Corps’ 55-foot keelboat after it returned to St. Louis from Fort Mandan in April 1805?”

It’s a really good question, but one that’s difficult to answer.

The keelboat was sent back to St. Louis in the spring of 1805 because it was deemed too large to go farther up the Missouri. This was the Captains’ original intent – the larger vessel would return from the Corps’ winter quarters with the temporary party returning any collected materials, journals, and reports to President Jefferson. Corporal Richard Warfington was in command of the return party.

The keelboat departed Fort Mandan on April 7, 1805 and arrived in St. Charles on May 20; it pulled into St. Louis on May 22. There is documentation that shows the keelboat continued on to Fort Massac, on the Ohio River, but after that there are no further records of its whereabouts. It’s often believed the boat was left at Fort Massac.

According to James J. Holmberg in his book, “Dear Brother,” a report in Cincinnati’s “Western Spy” on June 5, 1805 mentioned that a member of Lewis and Clark’s party had passed through Vincennes (Indiana) and provided residents with an update on the Expedition. This would have indicated the person was traveling by land toward Louisville. And based on the June 18, 1805 edition of the “Kentucky Gazette,” it was reported that one of the men who had returned down the Missouri with dispatches from the Expedition delivered them in Louisville. This report has no mention of a keelboat stopping at the Falls of the Ohio.

So, if left at Fort Massac, the keelboat would have likely remained in military service, being used for other purposes until it was damaged, destroyed, or sold as surplus. But, officially, the keelboat’s life after the Expedition joins a long list of mysteries of the Corps.