Did Lewis and Clark go down the Missouri River or the Yellowstone River?

Answer 1

On April 7, 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition set out in two pirogue boats and six canoes up the Missouri River. By the end of April the Lewis and Clark Expedition had reached the mouth of the Yellowstone.

The Marias and Missouri rivers were Lewis' targets for further exploration on the 1806 return trip. Clark took the Yellowstone. They divided their forces at Travelers Rest and planned to meet back where the Missouri and Yellowstone converge at Fort Union, some 450 miles to the east. They would become the first whites known to travel the Yellowstone River.

Answer 2

The Lewis & Clark Expedition traveled down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River , then up the Mississippi to the Missouri, and then up the Missouri to its headwaters on the Continental Divide. From there they traveled overland to the Snake River, down the Snake to the Columbia, and down the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. In all, they traveled on 5 of the great rivers of North America: Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, Snake, and Columbia.

The Missouri River: Begins at the Gallatin, Madison, and Jefferson Rivers in Montana, to the Mississippi River, at St. Louis. The Lewis and Clark expedition departed St. Louis on May 14, 1804 heading up the Missouri River.

Prior to the departure from St. Louis the expedition floated flat boats down the Ohio. It is not explicitly stated that they reached the Mississippi. But the only way to get from the Ohio to the Missouri is overland or via the Mississippi. Besides the Missouri empties into the Mississippi a few miles north and west of St. Louis, so they would have to have sailed the Mississippi from St. Louis to the mouth of the Missouri.

The Yellowstone River: The longest undamed river in the contiguous United States, retains most of its natural habitat characteristics and flows. 554 miles long from the Wyoming boundary to the North Dakota boundary.

Answer 3

Lewis and Clark took the Missouri River westward. Clark went down the Yellowstone on the return trip to St. Louis.