Lemhi Pass, Montana

Lemhi Pass was used by Shoshone traveling on horseback as far back as the late 1700s, but became famous after it was used by the Corps of Discovery in 1805, otherwise known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In August, 1805, scouting ahead of the rest of group, Meriwether Lewis and three others crossed the Continental Divide for the first time, here. Lewis then returned to the expedition’s camp on the east side of the Divide, 30 miles back, to meet with the rest of the group, who were slowly dragging their canoes and gear up the last dribbling bits of remaining river. On August 23, 1805, the Corps headed towards Lemhi Pass, traveling with Sacajawea and other Shoshone, leaving their canoes behind. The canoes were filled with rocks, sunk in a nearby pond, and were recovered when William Clark returned heading eastward a year later. They soon arrived at the pass, two weeks after the first visit by Meriwether Lewis, and called it Portage Hill, as they had hoped that the Salmon River, at the base of the pass on the other side of the Divide, would carry them by boat to the Pacific Ocean. The river was found to be too small and too full of rapids, but, led by Shoshone, Salish, and Nez Perce tribal members, the expedition finally found navigable water, and trees big enough to build canoes, weeks later at the Clearwater River in northern Idaho, which eventually carried them to the Columbia River, and the Pacific. Lemhi Pass was the highest point they would cross on their western trip, and it is where they left the United States, land recently acquired by the Louisiana Purchase, and entered the northwestern territory still claimed by the British.