"Bald-pated," Clark described the hills, then almost covered with prairie, near present-day Waubonsie State Park.  However, in 1804 the men were not exploring the hills; they wanted a passage to the Pacific Ocean.  So up the Missouri River they went, using poles, oars, ropes and sails to move a 55-foot-long keelboat full of supplies and two smaller boats called pirogues.  Replicas of the boats are at Lewis and Clark State Park.

On July 21, Silas Goodrich caught a white catfish near what is now Lake Manawa State Park.  Establishing a camp called White Fish Encampment, the men spent six days there, their longest rest since setting out more than two months earlier.

Although the Corps had often seen signs of Indians, they did not meet one until July 28 when George Drouillard met a Misourie and brought him to camp.  After arranging to meet some Indian leaders (most were away hunting), Lewis and Clark met six Oto and Missourie on August 3 for a council below a bluff near what is now Fort Atkinson State Park in Nebraska.  After meeting, the captains called the entire region Council Bluffs.

On August 5, the men made more than 20 miles, fantastic mileage going upriver, but that evening Clark realized they had simply rounded a large bend and were camping just 370 yards from that morning's campsite.

While in the area, the men became the first whites to see a badger; court-martialed and flogged a deserter; and saw the waters of the Missouri turn white when feathers molted by pelicans formed a feathery blanket measuring three miles long.

On August 13, near present-day Snyder Bend Lake, the expedition passed the remains of a trading post built by Scotsman James McKay in 1795 while working for the Spanish.  Nearby, they found an Omaha village empty, its people killed by smallpox four years earlier. 

A week later near Sioux City, Sergeant Charles Floyd died, apparently of appendicitis.  The only person to die on the entire journey, Floyd was buried atop a hill overlooking the Missouri where his remains still lie beneath the Sgt. Floyd Monument.

Just more than two years later, on September 3, 1806, the Corps returned to the area and encountered two canoes of men coming up the Missouri.  Led by Scotsman James Aird, the group shared news of the day with the long-gone Americans.

The next morning, with tobacco and flour provided by Aird, the Americans set off downriver and visited Floyd's grave.  Then they returned to the Missouri on which they were now making up to 80 miles a day.

About a week later, the Corps reached today's Iowa-Missouri border and on September 23, arrived in St. Louis, 28 months and 8,000 miles after they had last seen it.

To learn more about Lewis and Clark near the Loess Hills, visit the Iowa Welcome Centers at Council Bluffs, Missouri Valley, Sergeant Bluff and Sioux City.