September 18, 1803
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Aug 30, 1803 Sep 30, 1806

September 18, 1803

 

The morning was clear and having had every thing in readiness the over night we set out before sunrise and at nine in the morning passed Letart's falls; [1] this being nine miles distant from our encampment of the last evening—    this rappid is the most considerable in the whole course of the Ohio, except the rappids as they ar called opposite to Louisville in Kentuckey—    the descent at Letart's falls is a little more than 4 four feet in two hundred fifty yards.

1. Described in 1807 as more a rapids than a falls, and something under one-half mile long. The rock formation that caused the falls has since been removed. The name may derive from James LeTort, an early West Virginia Indian trader. Opposite is the small community of Letart Falls, Meigs County, Ohio. Thwaites (EWT), 4:139; Ohio Guide, 450; Stewart (APN), 255. (back)

[Ed: Here Lewis's writing breaks off until November 11. In the Eastern Journal there follow seven blank pages, a one-page note by Edward Biddle, and thirty-one pages of notes by Nicholas Biddle, probably written in 1810. In the interval of nearly two months, Lewis spent nearly a week in Cincinnati, visited the fossil beds at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, and reached Clarksville, Indiana Territory, where he picked up Clark and several "young men from Kentucky" (see Appendix A). After nearly two weeks in Clarksville, the party left on October 26 and on November 11 reached Massac in southern Illinois. Appleman (LC), 51–57; Lewis to Clark, September 28, 1803, Lewis to Jefferson, October 3, 1803, Jackson (LLC), 1:124–31.]