Lewis used the terms pirogue and canoe interchangeably when referring to the expeditions two pirogues.

Pirogue used by lewis and clark. The figures 4 and 6 presumably indicate the number of tuns of cargo that could be carried in each compartment. Though many of the treatments used by Lewis and Clark offered little potential for real healing and may have done more harm than good the men would have received nothing better in a 19th century hospital. The arrangement of six rowlocks tells us that it depicts the white or Soldiers pirogue as Clark described it on May 13 1804.

During the Expedition there were normally five or seven men manning each pirogue. It was equipped with seven oars a rudder and a mast. He used that vessel and two pirogues in his exploration of the.

The Corps also had two rowboat like boats called pirogues that were used for just about the entire trip. That special boat a 42-foot historically-accurate replica white pirogue used by Lewis Clark during their 1804 to 1806 expedition from St. Due to hanging limbs and lack of wind the sail was rarely used on the route to Fort Mandan.

The other two symbols are of uncertain meaning. The Red Pirogue can be seen moored to the port side of the keelboat. Unlike the keelboat a drawing of which survives in William Clarks field notes there is no precise written description of the two smaller boats the commanders.

The reenactors are following the same route that Meriwether Lewis and his early recruits sailed more accurately rowed after buying a 55 foot keelboat in Elizabeth PA. Lewis purchased the first of the two pirogues used by the expedition near Wheeling West Virginia. Until the Corps switched over to the canoes when they got closer to the rapidsThe Red.

Such boats were actually built for shallow water depths and upstream navigation. Upon seeing the extent of my involvement with Lewis and Clark and after receiving a copy of the premier issue of The Pirogue Larry disclosed that this summer he and wife Brandy are planning to sail the Columbia River System in their 42 foot Robertson and Caine 4200 Leopard catamaran. Medical technology simply had not reached a professional state by 1804.