Reaching Familiar Territory (left marker)

Meriwether Lewis at Lewis and Clark Pass

— The Return Journey —

Splitting Up the Corps
Captain Meriwether Lewis passed this way in the summer of 1806. Traveling east from their winter on the Pacific Ocean, co-commanders William Clark and Meriwether Lewis stopped near present-day Lolo, Montana. At a spot they named Travelers' Rest, the two captains divided the Corps of Discovery into two groups, hoping to explore more country before returning to the United States.

Following the Road to the Buffalo
On July 3, 1806, Lewis and his party of nine men set out for the Missouri River. Unsure of the best route across the mountains, Lewis consulted with his Nez Perce guides, who told him about the Road to the Buffalo. This ancient trail, they said, would lead the Corps quickly across the Continental Divide to the Missouri River.
On July 6, 1806, Lewis and his men traveled swiftly east along the Blackfoot River (past present-day Lincoln). The road was easy to find. The Corps members merely followed the deep ruts made by generations of Indian hunters and their travois.
The well-marked track along Alice Creek led them northwest to the foot of the mountains.

Crossing the Gap
Upon reaching the top of Lewis and Clark Pass on July 7, Lewis exultantly wrote that they were "passing the dividing ridge between the waters of the Columbia and Missouri rivers." He also noted that "from this gap [today's Lewis and Clark Pass] ... the fort mountain bears North Eaast (sic), and appears to be distant about 20 Miles." Fort Mountain, today known as Square Butte, was the first landmark Lewis recognized since leaving leaving Travelers' Rest. They were back in familiar territory -- and well on their way home. Lewis and his men must have breathed a deep collective sigh of relief.

Reunion at the Confluence
The two contingents of the Corps of Discovery reunited on August 12, 1806, near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, in southeastern Montana. Clark was alarmed to discover that Lewis had been shot the day before in the right buttock, by one of his own men "misstaking (sic) him in the thick bushes to be an Elk."

"passing the dividing ridge between the waters of the Columbia and Missouri rivers at 1/4 mile. from this gap which is low and an easy ascent on the W.side of the fort mountain bears North Eaast (sic), and appears to be distant about 20 Miles." -- Meriwether Lewis, July 7, 1806

Crossing Lewis and Clark Pass (center marker)

Priests and Roadbuilders, Homesteaders and Firefighters

— The Return Journey —

"Range life in 1900 was a grueling occupation and especially so in in the Alice Creek area where early snows and long winters made for a very short summer work period. When Alberta [Patterson] was twenty-one months old her mother told of putting Alberta into a wooden apple box used for a portable crib when she would go into the field to build fences."
-- Gold Pans and Singletrees, Upper Blackfoot Valley Historical Society

Early Missionaries and Routefinders

Father Nicholas Point
In the 1840s, the Jesuit missionary Father Nicolas (sic) Point became the first EuroAmerican to pass this way since Meriwether Lewis and his men crossed Lewis and Clark Pass in 1806.
Father Point journeyed with Salish hunting parties along the Road to the Buffalo. On one bison-hunting venture, Point wrote that they reached "the summit of mountain from which one could see a horizon more that a hundred leagues in circumference." Point was almost certainly referring to Lewis and Clark Pass and the awe-inspiring view from the top.

Military Roads and Train Routes
Military parties, ordered west by Issac Stevens, governor of Washington Territory, searched here for the best routes for a military road and a transcontinental railroad. Between 1853 and 1855, several of Steven's parties traveled along the Blackfoot River on the ancient Indian trail.

Personally, Governor Stevens favored the rail route through the Blackfoot Valley, up Alice Creek, and over Lewis and Clark Pass. Despite the governor's preference, the rail route was ultimately built over Mullan Pass 25 miles to the south, where less snow falls during the tough Montana winter.

The First Homestead
Homesteading brought permanent settlers to the Alice Creek area. In 1898, John Patterson established the earliest homestead here.
The Road to the Buffalo ran right through the Pattersons' ranch yard, and their barn straddled it. Members of the Patterson family often spotted Indian people traveling along the trail. Today, the Patterson is known as the Alice Creek Ranch.

Guarding against Fire
The Alice Creek Guard Station was built by the Forest Service near here, at the head of Alice Creek, in the early 1900s. The Helena National Forest used the station in winter for game surveys, and in the summer Forest Service range riders and fire guards stayed in the rustic cabin.
Today, only the foundation of the station still stands, reminding us of an earlier era in the history of managing fire on out national forests.

Road to the Buffalo (Right marker)

A Vital Passageway

— The Return Journey —

Bison! This great shaggy beast sustained the Indians of the Plains and adjacent areas for thousands of years. And in these parts we call Montana, an ancient network of trails led the Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and related Indian tribes, who territory once straddled both sides of the Continental Divide, into prime bison country on the high plains of central and eastern Montana.
The Nez Perce called this ancient trail leading through traditional Salish-Pend d'Oreille territory "Qoq'aalx 'Iskit!" meaning "Buffalo Road.
This well-worn trail crossed the Continental Divide at a low pass the Salish called "Smitu Sxcucs.i" This means Indian Fort Pass, a place where warriors sat in small stone structures to watch for approaching Blackfeet raiders. Today we know to watch we know this landmark as Lewis and Clark Pass.
The invasion of the West by EuroAmerican led to the virtual extermination of the bison by 1883, with the devastating impacts for many tribes. Despite there losses, Indian people survived, and today they still maintain an intimate relationship with these important cultural landscapes.

"the road which they [the Nez Perce] shewed men ... would lead up the East branch of Clark's river and a river called Cokahlarishkit or the river of the road to buffaloe and thence to ... the falls of the Missouri where we wished to go. they alleged that as the road was a well beaten track we could not now miss our way." -- Meriwether Lewis, July 3, 1806

Credit to: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=220034, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=220035, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=220033

Lewis & Clark Pass

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Lewis & Clark Pass

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Lewis & Clark Pass

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Lewis & Clark Pass

Lewis & Clark Pass