In early July 1806, the Corps of Discovery split into two main groups at Traveler’s Rest, near Missoula, Montana. Captain Meriwether Lewis’ main mission was to determine the northern reaches of the Marias River. Lewis and his detachment proceeded east to the Great Falls of the Missouri, following a well-known Indian route.

Once the group settled back into their Upper Portage Camp of 1805, the captain made plans for his exploration of the Marias. He selected brothers Reuben and Joseph Field and George Drewyer to accompany him. The rest of the party would wait for another detachment, re-portage the falls, and then meet Lewis at the confluence of the Marias and Missouri rivers.

Lewis and his small party rode northwest from the Great Falls on July 17, arriving at the Marias the following day. They then followed the river westward until they reached the “northern branch of Marias river,” or today’s Cut Bank Creek. They proceeded up this river but were soon disappointed that the tributary “will not be as far north as I wished and expected.” Lewis had hoped that the waters of the Marias would extend to the 50^th parallel, thus opening that territory for American fur traders.

On July 22, Lewis and his men, having traveled about 30 miles that day, decided that they would not continue any farther and made their camp among “a clump of large cottonwood trees in a beautifull and extensive bottom of the river about 10 miles below the foot of the rocky mountains.” They remained there for four days and called it Camp Disappointment. During this time, the men were mostly unsuccessful at hunting, and Lewis couldn’t take his navigational readings due to poor weather, thus adding to his “disappointment.” On the morning of July 26, 1806, Lewis’ detachment began its ride back to the Missouri River.

The obelisk is located north of Highway 2, east of Browning, Montana. The actual Camp Disappointment is on private land, a few miles from this spot.

Credits and Sources:

Moulton, Gary E., editor. The Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark: Over the Rockies to St. Louis, volume 8. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.