Tetoharsky, along with Twisted Hair, accompanied the expedition down the Clearwater and lower Snake Rivers, acting as river guides and interpreters. They continued down the Columbia to The Dalles, the line between Sahaptian and Chinookan speaking peoples. At that point they asked to leave. On 25 October, Clark mentions their departure:
a parting Smoke with our two faithful friends the Chiefs who accompanied us from the head of the river, (who had purchased a horse each with 2 robes and intended to return on horse back)
On the return journey, Tetoharsky met the travelers on the Travois Trail and later showed them where to cross the Snake River.
Related Pages
October 5, 1805
Scarcely able to breathe
by Kristopher K. Townsend
At Clearwater Canoe Camp near present Orofino, Idaho, two new canoes are put in the water, and the horses are rounded up, branded, and given to Nez Perce caretakers. Tetoharsky and Twisted Hair volunteer to guide the expedition down the river. Clark says that their diet of Native roots has them so full of wind that they are ‘scarcely able to breathe’.
October 7, 1805
Down the Clearwater
by Kristopher K. Townsend
After a busy day, thirty-three expedition members, Lewis’s dog, Seaman, and the two Lemhi Shoshone guides start down the Clearwater River in their five new dugout canoes. This is their first time paddling down a river as a team, and challenging rapids test the boats and paddlers. They camp near present Lenore, Idaho.
October 8, 1805
A canoe accident
by Kristopher K. Townsend
The paddlers navigate numerous rapids as the expedition passes several islands with Nez Perce fishing camps. At one island, guides Twisted Hair and Tetoharsky come aboard. After a canoe accident at the mouth of Colter’s Creek—present Potlatch River—travel abruptly stops.
In St. Louis, General James Wilkinson tells of sick Indian delegates and praises interpreter Pierre Dorion, Sr.
October 14, 1805
'Ship Rock'
by Kristopher K. Townsend
After passing a ‘ ship rock‘—Monumental Rock on the Snake River in Washington—Sgt. Ordway‘s canoe gets stuck on a rock and fills with water. They stop for the day and begin drying wet items.
In Santa Fe, Pedro Vial leaves with orders to prevent the Lewis and Clark Expedition from succeeding.
October 15, 1805
Snake River rapids
by Kristopher K. Townsend
The first half of the day is spent drying items while the hunters and Lewis explore the high plains above the Snake River. Some items must be packed up wet so that they can continue down the river. They pass through several difficult rapids and camp above present Fishhook Rapids.
October 18, 1805
Down the Columbia
by Kristopher K. Townsend
The captains council with the Wanapums and Yakamas and record Sahaptian vocabularies. Clark measures the widths of the Snake and Columbia rivers, and they purchase 40 dogs as a store of provisions. Late in the day, the expedition heads down the Columbia and camps below the Twin Sisters in Wallula Gap.
October 24, 1805
Running the Short Narrows
by Kristopher K. Townsend
The dugout canoes are safely run down the Short Narrows of the Columbia astonishing the onlooking Indians. Below the narrows, the expedition encounters Chinookan-speaking People, and the two Nez Perce guides know it is time to return home. Several sea otters are shot, and in the evening, Cruzatte plays the fiddle.
October 25, 1805
A "bad whorl & Suck"
by Kristopher K. Townsend
The expedition’s most valuable cargo is carried around the Long Narrows of the Columbia, and then the best paddlers run the rapid in nearly empty canoes. Now out of the Sahaptian-speaking region, the two Nez Perce guides head back home. A camp is established on a high basalt outcrop—in present The Dalles, Oregon—which they would later call Fort Rock Camp.
May 4, 1806
Reaching the Snake
by Kristopher K. Townsend
After a frosty morning, the Corps descends present Alpowa Creek to reach the Snake River. Their 1805 guide Te-toh-kan Ahs-kahp, or Tetoharsky, shows them where to cross the river. They continue to a campsite near present Clarkston, Washington where many curious Nez Perce villagers crowd around them. Lewis describes their menstrual lodges.
Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
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