Lewis and Clark Trail History

The Snake River and the Overland Shortcut

This is a map of the southeast corner of Washington State. On the Washington-Idaho border there's a town called Lewiston; coming in from the right is the Clearwater River. Lewis and Clark navigated the Clearwater through Idaho, to present-day Lewiston, ID.

At Lewiston the Clearwater joins the Snake River, which forms something of an upside-down bowl as it makes its way westward. Towards the left side of the map there's a town called Kennewick; near Kennewick is where the Snake River joins the Columbia River, which at that point is coming down from the North.

On the journey westward the Expedition followed the upside down bowl formed by the Snake River, but on the return journey they followed a straight-line overland path back to Clarkston; that shortcut saved them about 80 miles. Knowledge of this shortcut was acquired from chief Yellepit of the Walla Walla tribe, who lived in the region shown in the lower-left part of the map.