Between May 1804 and September 1806, Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery traveled 3,700 miles from the plains of the Midwest to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. In their search for a water route to the Pacific Ocean, they opened a window onto the west for the young United States.

 

The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail was established by Congress in 1978. Idaho’s Lemhi Valley and Salmon River played an important role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Lewis and Clark Trail through the Lemhi Valley had a critical role in the historic era of exploration and fur trade. Portions of the Trail continued to be important in regional and local settlement, mining and transportation history.