Lewis and Clark Campsite: July 15, 1804

That evening Meriwether Lewis found his chronometer stopped, though he had wound it the noon before. It was the third time it had stopped since it came into his hands, and the first since the expedition left the River Dubois. Restarted, it had always kept the same rate, about 15 and a half seconds slow every 24 hours, so he judged the works sound. Still, he resolved to halt at the first convenient place to find its error and fix a second point of departure. The day had begun in a fog that held the boats until 7 o'clock.

What the plaque says

Lewis and Clark Campsite July 15, 1804 The members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped a short distance south of here on the Nebraska side of the river, on July 15, 1804. They had covered nearly 10 miles that day, most traveling in a 55-foot keelboat, two pirogues, and dugout canoes. Clark and two men, however, walked along the river surveying the land. Clark noted in his journal that they had to cross three small streams, including the Little Nemaha River. He described it as "a Small river, about 100 yds. above the mouth it is 40 yards wide." He swam across, recording the extensive prairies between the hills marking the Missouri River floodplain. He noted the abundance of fruit: "I Saw Great quantities of Grapes, Plums, or 2 Kinds wild Cherries of 2 Kinds, Hazelnuts, and Goosberries." Soon after embarking the next morning the expedition's keelboat caught on a snag in the river. Despite the delay, the explorers traveled 20 miles on July 16.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Brownville — 0.3 mi
  A Missouri River town of 1854 that bet on a railroad and lost, kept its arts through the decline, and now has Nebraska's oldest repertory theatre and a 1932 steam dredge on the bank.
• Indian Cave State Park — 12 mi
  Wooded Missouri River bluffs in the old Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation, with carvings of animals cut into a sandstone shelter, the ghost town of St. Deroin and miles of trail.
• Arbor Lodge State Historical Park — 23 mi
  J. Sterling Morton's estate in Nebraska City, a four-room house of 1855 grown to 52 rooms among the trees he planted, home of the man who proposed Arbor Day in 1872.

More markers nearby

• Brownville — 0.3 mi
• Muir House — 0.4 mi
• The Nebraska State Teachers' Association — 0.4 mi
• Peru State College — 7.0 mi