Lewis and the boats finally arrive at the Falls of the Ohio, and the Lewis and Clark partnership begins. An evening storm rolls in, so Lewis is likely eager to find shelter—perhaps at Clark’s new home across the river at Clarksville.
Boats typically moored at the Louisville port at Beargrass Creek where they could be emptied of cargo and a pilot hired to navigate the Falls of the Ohio. On this day, however, the expedition’s boats may have moored at Jeffersonville—closer to Clark’s home on the Indiana shore.
The Partnership Begins
The Kentucky Gazette
Courtesy The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky.
LOUISVILLE, October 15.
Captain Lewis arrived at this port on Friday last [14 October]. We are informed that he has brought barges &c on a new construction, that can be taken in pieces for the purpose of passing carrying-places; and that he and captain Clark will start in a few days on their expedition to the Westward.[1]The Kentucky Gazette, Lexington, 1 November 1803.
Louisville
The town at the rapids is situated on Bear-grass creek, on a high and level bank of the Ohio, about 200 poles above the commencement of the rapid descent of the water, and contains about 50 dwellings, the court house of Jefferson county, and other public buildings.—The prospect from it is very extensive, commanding a view up the river for some distance above what is called six mile island; and on the opposite shore of the river, which is here a mile and a quarter wide, the eye is carried over an extent of level country, terminated by the hills of Silver creek, which are five miles distant, and down the river to Clarks Ville, about 2 miles below.[2]Zadok Cramer, The Ohio and Mississippi Navigator: Containing Directions for Navigating the Monongahela, Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers . . . (Pittsburgh: Zadok Cramer, Bookseller & … Continue reading
Stormy Evening
The evening was very threatening, the clouds dark and broken with showers and wind blustery at 8 o’clock, and our candles being out we seem to have the prospect of an uncomfortable night.
—Thomas Rodney, 14 October 1803[3]Dwight L. Smith and Ray Swick, ed., A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney’s 1803 Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997), 119.
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Notes
| ↑1 | The Kentucky Gazette, Lexington, 1 November 1803. |
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| ↑2 | Zadok Cramer, The Ohio and Mississippi Navigator: Containing Directions for Navigating the Monongahela, Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers . . . (Pittsburgh: Zadok Cramer, Bookseller & Stationer, 1802), 28. |
| ↑3 | Dwight L. Smith and Ray Swick, ed., A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney’s 1803 Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997), 119. |
