Fort Pierre, South Dakota (CoD September 24-28, 1804)

It was here where the Bad River empties into the Missouri, that the CoD almost met its demise. The photo shows me with the two rivers behind, the Bad to the left and Missouri on the right. The meanest dudes on the great planes, the Teton Sioux, met with the CoD in council, just about where I was standing, and tried to push them around. The situation was exacerbated by two Teton chiefs vying for power and Lewis insisting on talking with just one chief.
It came down to Clark drawing his sword, the men on the keelboat loading all guns and the Sioux drawing bow and arrows. The delicate standoff was defused by one chief, Black Buffalo, who waved off his warriors. With the number of warriors and their weapons, it would have been a very one sided fight and we probably would never have heard of the CoD again. Fortunately that outcome was avoided and the CoD was able to continue their up river journey.
We camped in the Oahe Downstream Recreational Area, a few miles north of Fort Pierre. It is a large park just downstream from the massive Oahe Dam, the 14th largest dam of its type in the world. Once again the park was less than 10% full. Across the Missouri is the town of Pierre, the capital of South Dakota. Pierre has a large population of 14,000.