The return
Leaving Fort Clatsop the twenty-third of March, 1806, the
return of the expedition was delayed by heavy snows on the
mountainous divide, and much hardship was experienced.
The actual crossing of the range
commenced
June 15th. By the first of July the party had arrived at
Travellers' Rest Creek, where the native trails converged, and
here
they divided into two sections—Lewis's party going
direct to the
Falls of the Missouri, and afterwards exploring
Maria's River with a view
to ascertaining its availability as a
fur-trade route to the north; Clark
and his contingent proceeding
to the head of
navigation of the year before, and then
crossing over to the Yellowstone
and descending that stream
to its junction with the Missouri. Parting
company on the
third of July, it was the twelfth of August before the two
branches of the expedition reunited on the Missouri, several
days
below the mouth of the Yellowstone. Their final happy
arrival at St.
Louis, on the twenty-third of September, after an
absence of two years,
four months, and nine days, is one of the
familiar events in American
history.
