More than two hundred years ago, Weippe Prairie was a major transportation and trade junction for the Nez Perce Nation. The prairie was simply called Weippe by those living in the area (Weippe being derived from the Nez Perce term Oyáyp). Weippe…

The Lewis and Clark Expedition—or the Corps of Discovery, as it was officially known—reached the Great Falls of the Missouri River on June 13, 1805. The company was elated to arrive at the falls, becoming the “first white men to see the Great Falls…

While canoeing the Jefferson River near the Missouri River’s headwaters trapping beavers in 1809, John Colter and his companion, John Potts, were called ashore by a large party of Blackfoot Indians. Colter knew about the Atsinas and Blackfoot…

After leaving their camp at Traveler’s Rest, the Corps of Discovery, led by captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark encountered one of the most grueling stretches of their expedition. The Shoshones advised them against descending the Snake River…

Born in Canada in 1785, French-Canadian Étienne Provost moved west as a young man to pursue the life of a fur trader. Although he is recognized as one of the most influential mountain men during his time, his legacy hides in the shadows of more…

The Corps of Discovery relied heavily upon the geographic knowledge of Native peoples. They had been told of a set of impassable waterfalls high up on the Missouri River and finding them would indicate they were on the correct. However, in the late…

In Lodore Canyon Emery and Ellsworth Kolb quickly learned that a wild river made for a perilous journey. The Green River in this section is noted for its narrow channel, abundant boulders, and difficult rapids. Dropping 420 feet in twelve miles, the…

Leaving Lee’s Ferry, only a hundred miles separated Emery and Ellsworth Kolb from their home and studio on the Grand Canyon rim. To reach it they would have to take on the formidable rapids in the canyons of the Marble and Grand, trapped on either…

In 1776 an expedition left from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to find an overland route to the Catholic Mission in Monterrey, California. Native Americans guided Franciscan priests, Fathers Escalante and Dominguez through the Colorado Plateau. Their…

This tiny Utah outpost along the Green River has long served as a stopping point for travelers. Initially a ferrying point for the United States Postal Service, the Denver and Rio Grande railroad connected to the town in 1883. However, Ellsworth and…

The two intermountain rivers, the Green and the Grand, combined to form the Colorado River. The first canyon of the unified river is so incredibly wild, that when Major John Wesley Powell first descended it, he deemed that these were not ordinary…

Emery and Ellsworth Kolb’s experience in Glen Canyon began at the remote settlement of Hite, Utah. There, the two brothers recovered from the previous trials of Cataract Canyon and wrote home to their families. Staying only a night, the duo waved…