Lewis & Clark Expedition, 1804, Bad River

Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark steered their boats upriver on the Missouri after a friendly meeting with Yankton Sioux Indian chiefs at Calumet Bluffs; only to next encounter a much less welcoming party of Teton Sioux, otherwise known as Lakota Sioux.  The meeting with the Lakota at the confluence of the river now named the Bad River (near Pierre, South Dakota) was a fragile and tense test of diplomacy and militancy on both sides of the encounter.  Central Dakota lands were dominated by the horse culture of the Lakota who were early middlemen and river toll-keepers for the fur trapper and trader activities during the 19th century on the prairies north of the Platte River and east of the Rockies.  The Corps of Discovery talked business, but initially with sword and guns facing bows and arrows.  (Best if viewed on larger screens).