Corp of Discovery Campsite September 7, 1805
When entering our Bitterroot Valley on their way west, the Corp of Discovery came over Lost trail Pass from the south. After two nights in Ross Hole (Sula Montana), they camped north of Spring Gulch (L&C Camp Sept6th). This cache is near and overlooking where they camped on September 7th, 1805
Now for the coordinates for this cache. Research the date that the Corp of Discovery left the Mandan Village heading west in 1805. Take that date and put it in the form of MM/DD/YYYY and assign AB/CD/EFGH to those numbers and put them into the cords below to find the cords for the cache.
N 46*G F.(F+G) (F+E) H
W 114* A (D+E+E).H (B+H) D
This cache is on private property but there are no fences to cross and there are no signs posted. There are some orange boards/posts indicating no hunting as it is open rangeland. I did get permission from the owner (farm buildings to the south). They are Lewis and Clark enthusiasts also!
Take a moment while you are here and read the paper in the cache that I have written with Clark’s writings from the journals. Picture what you would have seen and heard if you were sitting on this hillside overlooking this campsite the evening of Sept 7th 1805. You are welcome to take a copy without “trade.” There is of course a logbook and I ask you to log your entry and make any comments you may like to make. Any trade items will work but it would be nice if they related even remotely to The Corp of Discovery or this area in those days.
The Corp of Discovery passed the “Medicine Tree” or “Ram’s Horn Tree” (N45*54.395 W114*04.573) but did not notice it. Alexander Ross traveling the same trail only 18 years later noted it. It was killed by lightning around 7 years ago. Part of the trunk is still there and it is still considered sacred by the Salish Indians. The small historical marker is now unreadable. I have written a paper about it and that is in the cache for you to take a copy.
I have put a cache at each of the Corp of Discovery campsites in the Bitterroot Vally - er I mean Valley! There are seven campsites in our valley. There is one more campsite that is debatable as to just where it is! That one is for September 3rd 1805. There is a lot of disagreement on where it was located. I have put a cache at Lost Trail Pass to represent that campsite and so I have eight Lewis and Clark Campsite Caches in all.
Other things to research: Why did they not just make canoes and take the Clarks River (Bitterroot River) to the Pacific Ocean? Were they impressed with our beautiful valley? How many of the original Corp of Discovery members died before completion of the trek? What is the “broken thermometer discrepancy”? What is the present name of the creek they named for “Seaman” and where is it? What name did they give for the Bitterroot Valley? WINTER NOTE: Unless there is a lot of snow in the valley, I would put the winter difficulty at 2 for this cache.
SUM CHECK: To check your work if you add the north and west MINUTES you should have 18.492.