Winter Camp at Wood River: Lewis and Clark's Starting Point and a Changing River

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Lock and Dam 25, part of the engineering that keeps the Mississippi open to commercial traffic year-round. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

While Meriwether Lewis stayed in St. Louis, William Clark and the rest of the expedition built Camp Dubois where the Wood River joined the Mississippi, and lived there for five months over the winter of 1803–1804. The camp was on the east bank of the Mississippi, in what is now Illinois. The river has since shifted, and the campsite now lies on its west bank, in Missouri.

A river under pressure

Higher average and peak temperatures have brought wetter springs and summer droughts to the area, with ecological and economic consequences. Channelization and structures such as dams and levees have been built to stabilize the river and support commercial shipping. But heavier rainfall driven by climate change still raises the risk of flooding, threatening the cities and infrastructure that have grown up along the river since the expedition camped here. In 2011, record flooding closed navigation on a long stretch of the river and caused more than $3.5 million in damage to property and agriculture.

Sources

• National Park Service, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, "Winter Camp at Wood River." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/winter-camp-at-wood-river.htm
• NPS, Pittsburgh to the Pacific: High Potential Historic Sites of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Trail (2022), 33; Gary E. Moulton, ed., Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, note to the December 12, 1803, entry: https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.jrn.1803-12-12
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "What Climate Change Means for Illinois" (August 2016); Alexander, Wilson and Green, "A Brief History and Summary of the Effects of River Engineering and Dams on the Mississippi River System and Delta," U.S. Geological Survey (2012): https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1375/C1375.pdf