Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier

After crossing the Bitterroot Range, the expedition “finally had gravity working for them” (302) with rivers running towards the Pacific. They took the Snake River downstream through Idaho and into present-day Washington State, following the directions of the Nez Perce to the Columbia River junction with the Snake. Twisted Hair went ahead of the crew to reassure their neighbors that the white men were friendly. The peoples along the Snake and Columbia rivers, the Nez Perce, Yakimas, Wanapams, and Walla-Wallas, among others, all spoke variations on the same language, and Twisted Hair was able to act as an effective diplomat with all of them. Lewis distributed gifts and promised friendship, but maintained a greater economic scheme that “would cut the British out of the fur trade” (303) and reserve those riches for American interests.

Signs of the proximity of the Pacific Ocean became more prevalent, from Indigenous people sporting trade goods from the European-run posts on the coast, to the sight of the Cascade mountains.

In order to reach the Chinook territory on the coast, Lewis and his men shot the incredibly dangerous rapids of the Deschutes River’s fall into the Columbia, called the Dalles. The Native Americans in the area warned them not to do so, but Lewis and his men ignored their advice.