Lewis and Clark Visit Spirit Mound
August 25, 1804
On the hot day of August 25, 1804, captains Lewis and Clark and several of their men walked from the river to explore Spirit Mound. They had heard that little people with deadly arrows inhabited the mound. Although they did not find little people, they saw their big herds of buffalo as well as elk, burrows of either badgers or "Prairie Wolves" (coyotes), meadowlarks, swallows, and the first bat they had seen on the expedition. Suffering from heat and thirst, they walked back to the river.
"From the top of this Mound we beheld a most beautiful landscape; Numerous herds of buffaloes were seen feeding in various directions." Wm. Clark
"25th Augt George Shannon Killed an Elk Buck" Wm. Clark
Paintings by Ron Backer
Marker is on South Dakota Route 19 0.1 miles north of 312th Street, on the left when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
