Lewis and Clark Highway in Leadore, ID

Lewis and Clark Highway, Leadore, ID

The Lewis and Clark Highway is a 19.25 kilometer historic route near Leadore, Idaho, climbing to an elevation of 2,249 meters through Lemhi Pass. This significant section of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail offers visitors the chance to travel the exact path where the Corps of Discovery first crossed the Continental Divide, featuring original landmarks and interpretive sites along Agency Creek Road.

19.25 km ID

Points of Interest

Horseshoe Bend Creek

Mile 25 - Lewis and his men drank from this creek where it joins
Agency Creek 0.4 mile below this sharp curve. They consoled
themselves following their shocking view from Lemhi Pass with
the belief that they were drinking from a stream that would
eventually reach the Columbia River. credit to: <a href="https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/LCBackCountryByway.pdf">https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/LCBackCountryByway.pdf</a>

First Idaho Campsite

Inscription On Monday August 12, 1805, Lewis,with three men as an advance party, crossed the Lemhi Pass and spent their first night in Idaho near this spot. Lewis wrote, "...after a short halt of a few minutes we continued our march along the Indian road which lead us over steep hills and deep hollows to a spring on the side of the mountain here we encamped for the night having traveled about 20 miles." Credit to: <a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109545">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109545</a>

The Red Rock Stage

Inscription The Red Rock Stage travelled this route between Salmon, ID, and Red Rock, MT from 1866 to 1910. It ran 125 miles daily, year-round, involving 90 horses, 14 Concord Coaches, and 12 wagons. Several holdups occurred near here, and it was not unusual for a stage to overturn on the treacherous road. Credit to: <a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109554" title="Link: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109554">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109554</a>

Agency Creek

In this campground there is a set of markers that are not visible from the road. Inscription (Lewis and Clark: The First Idaho Camp) Captain Meriwether, interpreter George Drouillard, and privates Hugh McNeal and John Shields crossed Lemhi Pass on the afternoon of August 12, 1805. The Indian road they were traveling climbed north out of the narrow Agency Creek Canyon at the foot of the pass. At a spring along the road this "advance party" found enough "dry willow brush" for McNeal, their cook, to boil up a well-traveled piece of salt pork for supper. "Very early" the next morning the four men walked west toward the Lemhi Valley and their historic meeting with Lemhi Shoshone. "We continued our march along the Indian road which led us over steep hills and deep hollows to a spring... here we encamped for the night having traveled about 20 miles." - Meriwether Lewis, August 12, 1805 Inscription (Lemhi Shoshone Winter Camps) Cameahwait's band of 400 Lemhi Shoshone dried berries, seeds, roots, and salmon in summer, but it was not enough. To survive the long winter, they would need about fifteen tons of bison jerky. The fall bison hunt in Montana was risky because enemies roamed the plains: Blackfeet and Hidatsa. After the hunt, small bands of Lemhis made camps in sheltered mountain valleys with adequate water, firewood, and forage for horses. Winter was a time for ceremony, story telling, music and dancing. And for dreams of summer, when one again they would be the Agai Dika, the salmon eaters. "they never leave the interior of the mountains while they can obtain a scanty subsistence, and always return as soon as they have acquired a good stock of dried meat in the plains." - Meriwether Lewis, August 19, 1805 Inscription (Plants New to Science) (Two panels share a common support.) Meriwether Lewis identified, described and collected plants that were new to science and observed how the Shoshone used local plants. These species can be found in this area: • Syringa or Mock Orange (Philadelphus lewisii) - Idaho State Flower • Lewis's Monkey Flower (Mimulus lewisii) • White Stem Northern Black Gooseberry (Ribes hudsonianum) "I observed a species of deep perple (sic) currant... the fruit is of the ordinary size and shape, but is ascid & very inferior in point of flavor" • Rocky Mountain Maple (Acer glabrum) • Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) later grown in Thomas Jefferson's garden. "It bears a globular berry as large as a garden pea and as white as wax." "Other objects worthy of notice will be the soil, and face of the country, its growth and vegetable products, especially those not of the U.S..." - From Thomas Jefferson's instructions to Captain Meriwether Lewis, June 20, 1803 Plant Outlaws When the Corps of Discovery entered the Lemhi Valley in 1805, they entered a healthy land with a wide variety of native grasses, shrubs, and trees. Weedy, seedy desperados known as "Noxious Weeds" threaten the health of public lands today. They adversely impact ecosystem diversity, wildlife habitat, livestock grazing, recreation, and cultural resources. A posse of federal, state, and county land agencies and private land owners has vowed to bring these desperados in Dead. Support the posse by: • reporting any sightings of noxious weeds to the BLM at 756-5400; • removing all weed seeds from clothing, shoes, pets, camping gear, & tire treads; • avoiding travel in weed-infested areas; • using only certified weed-free feed to you pack animals; and • placing weeds in sealed containers for disposal. credit to: <a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109581" target="" rel="">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109581</a> , <a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109582" target="" rel="">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109582</a> , <a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109584">https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109584</a>

Flag Unfurling Sign

Upon reaching Lemhi Pass, 12 miles east of
here, Lewis unfurled
the American flag for
the first time west of
the Rockies on August
13, 1805. Sparked
by Lewis and Clark
crossing the Continental Divide, westward
expansion brought a
great influx of explorers, missionaries,
miners, and settlers
and with them great
changes for those
people already here. Credit to: <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev3_015842.pdf" title="Link: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev3_015842.pdf">https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev3_015842.pdf</a>

Nearby

Lemhi Pass to Tendoy Lemhi Pass to Clark Canyon Warm Springs Road CDT Trail Sacajawea Monument Lemhi Pass Road Missouri River Headwaters

Lewis and Clark Highway

iNaturalist Observations