Arrival at Camp Dubois!

The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1803-04 at Camp Dubois about 10 miles up river from St. Louis on the Illinois side. Although there's no way to find the exact location of the site, there is a nice visitor center and museum there to mark what is considered the real jumping off site for the expedition. During that cold winter, Lewis and Clark trained their men, bought supplies and learned everything they could about the area further up the Missouri River from traders in the area.

The first picture above is of a member of the Corps in authentic dress. This gentleman was extremely interesting to talk to and knew every possible fact about the time that Lewis and Clark spent in the area. The leaders of the expedition spent a lot of time just keeping the men sober during that long winter. The second picture is of a fantastic replica of the Corp's keelboat that they used to get up the Missouri River. The Corps has to load and reload all their gear several times before they could trim the vessel properly. On calm days they rowed it, on windy days they sailed it, and when the water got shallow they either poled it or just got out and towed it by hand! The last picture is of the replica of the fort that the Corps built on the site at Camp Dubois.

Overall this stop was a great way to introduce ourselves to the journey of Lewis and Clark to the Pacific. Another interesting thing we learned there is that there is a tiny subculture of Americans who are absolutely obsessed with Lewis and Clark history. One lady visiting the museum there named her kid after one of the more obscure members of the Corps of Discovery.

Jack still felt a little sick while we were there but he was definately improving.