Lewis & Clark

The Horse Prairie Lodge is located in the historic Horse Prairie Valley.. The Horse Prairie Valley is so named because it is the valley where Sacajewea, traveling with the Lewis and Clark Expedition (America's greatest adventure), first met her brother, Cameahwait, chief of the Shoshoni tribe, who approached the Expedition on horseback. Lewis and Clark were so impressed with the Shoshoni horses that they acquired several from Cameahwait and used them for their ascent of the Great Divide, into today's Idaho. Sacajewea, who as a young girl had been kidnapped and reared with another tribe in the Dakotas, was overwhelmed with joy at meeting her brother and home tribe.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, with the help of Sacajawea, visited here in 1805, and on the eastward trek back to St. Louis, stopped in this area again. About 15 miles north east of Dillon, along Highway 42, the expedition spotted and named Beaverhead Rock, which later gave its name to the county. The explorers were followed by the fur trappers, by John Colter and then later by Hudson Bay Fur Company explorers Alexander Ross, Peter Skene Ogden and John Work.

The surrounding area became a hunting ground for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company of St. Louis in about 1830.  Jim Bridger came through this area in 1832, followed by Henry Vanderburgh of the American Fur Company. It wasn't just the early day fur trappers that found the area in those early days. Father DeSmet, in his historical trek to the Flathead Indians arrived near Red Rock Lakes in August 1840 and was guided by the Indians along the Beaverhead River.

During the summer, the Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail Association will be having its annual convention in Dillon... an event that is prompting people in the local area to improve the historical picture of Lewis and Clark in the county.