Winter Camp at Wood River, IL The men start building a winter camp by clearing land and falling timber. The location is near the Wood and Mississippi confluence opposite the mouth of the Missouri in 1803.
Sketches of Winter Camp at the Wood River
Clark’s field notes (Osgood, Document 1, cropped, contrast adjusted for clarity). Original digitized by Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Library.
Above: Clark appears to be evaluating different layouts for the buildings that would comprise their winter quarters on the Wood River. Which one he picked we do not know.
Clearing Land
fixed on a place to build huts Set the men to Clearing land & Cutting Logs— a hard wind all day— flying Clouds, Sent to the neghbourhood, Some Indians pass.
—William Clark
Winter Camp at Wood River (Camp Dubois) is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site, near Hartford, Illinois, is managed as Lewis and Clark State Historic Site and is open to the public.
