12. Missouri Headwaters

Updated: August 7, 2020

Clark was ahead of Lewis, looking for traces of Sacagawea's tribe, when on July 25, 1805, he reached the headwaters of the Missouri. Lewis and Clark were at first unsure if they had actually reached the headwaters. When they decided that they had, they then had to determine which fork would take them to the mountains. The rivers were roughly the same width and appearance, so they picked the most westward-moving, naming it the Jefferson River after President Jefferson.

Updated: August 7, 2020