Fishing with Silas | an Angler's Guide to the Lewis and Clark Trail
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University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2001 Fishing with Silas | An angler's guide to the Lewis and Clark Trail Nick J. Winterer Gevock The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Gevock, Nick J. Winterer, "Fishing with Silas | An angler's guide to the Lewis and Clark Trail" (2001). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 2362. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/2362 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Maureen and Mike MANSFIELD LIBRARY The University of Montana Permission is granted by the author to reproduce this material in its entirety, provided that this material is used for scholarly purposes and is properly cited in published works and reports. * * Please check "Yes" or "No" and provide signature* * Yes, I grant permission X No, I do not grant permission Author's Signature: Date: ^ ^ "Z o C \ Any copying for commercial purposes or financial gain may be undertaken only with the author's explicit consent. 8/98 FISHING WITH SILAS, AN ANGLER’S GUIDE TO THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL by N ick J. G evock B.A. University of Iowa, 1993 and Drew Winterer B.A. Washington and Lee University, 1993 presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts The University of Montana M ay 2001 Approved by: Chairperson Dean, Graduate School b -31-01 Date UMI Number: EP35505 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT Oissartaîion PuWishiftg UMI EP35505 Published by ProQuest LLC (2012). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code uest ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 TABLE OF CONTENTS Fishing with Silas Introduction 7 Chapter One Lewis and Clark Prepare to Cross the Continent 12 The Big Muddy: We Hit the Trail 19 St. Louis 22 Fly-Fishing for Carp 23 Chapter Two Fishing the Lower Missouri Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa 25 The Corps Sets Out, Fishing in Missouri and Kansas 26 Catfish Tournaments 32 Fly-fishing for Cats 34 Iowa and Nebraska Fishing History, Corps of Discovery 38 Chapter Three The Missouri River Reservoirs South Dakota Fishing History, The Expedition enters the Great Plains 41 The Damned Missouri 47 Gavins Point Dam, Yankton SD 48 Lake Yankton 50 Lewis and Clark Lake 51 Ft. Randall Dam 53 Lake Francis Case 53 Big Bend Dam, Lake Sharpe 56 Lake Oahe 58 Heading Toward Winter Camp: The Corps in North Dakota 62 Garrison Dam, Lake Sakakewea 65 Ft. Peck, MT 67 Chapter Four Montana, the Upper Missouri 69 The Corps of Discovery in Big Sky Country 70 The Wild and Scenic Missouri 84 Great Falls to Canyon Ferry Dam 85 Canyon Ferry, Other Reservoirs 88 Three Forks 88 East Gallatin 92 Lewis and Clark on the Jefferson 93 Jefferson River 94 The Beaverhead 97 Clark Canyon Reservoir 100 Chapter Five The Corps Pushes into the Land of Salmon 100 The Bitterroot River 124 Lolo Creek 127 The Clark Fork of the Columbia River 127 The Blackfoot River 130 Lochsa River 134 Idaho’s Clearwater 137 Chapter Six The Final Run to the Pacific Snake River and its Dams 142 Lewis and Clark Witness the Greatest Salmon Fishery on Earth 145 Columbia River Fishing 161 Fly-fishing the Columbia 164 The Lower Columbia 165 Lewis and Clark Winter by the Ocean 167 Buoy 10 181 Seaside 182 Chapter Seven The Return Trip 183 The Yellowstone 186 A ppendix I Our Boats, Vehicles and Gear List 188 Fishing Gear 190 The Dogs 191 Appendix II ih of the Lewis and Clark Trail 191 Catfish 191 Bluegill 194 Crappie 195 Bass 196 Largemouth Bass 197 W hite Bass 197 Freshwater Drum 198 Carp 198 Northern Pike 200 Paddlefish 201 W alleye 204 Trout 207 Rainbow Trout 207 Brown Trout 208 Cutthroat Trout 209 Steelhead Trout 210 Salmon 211 Stocked Salmon 214 The Chinook 215 Coho Salmon 215 Sockeye 216 Sturgeon 216 Appendix III Fishing Reports, Contacts and Information 218 Government Listings 220 Acknowledgments 221 Fishing with Silas So here we are, two road-bound anglers, looking for a rest area late at night. Somewhere south of Sioux City, we just want to stretch our legs. But Iowa is preparing for the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and instead of the typical steel and concrete rest area; we find a brand new rest stop dedicated entirely to the Corps of Discovery. In front of the beautifully lit building a giant map of the cross-continental journey tracks the outbound, return and side trips. Side panels describe the journey. What catches our attention, though, are the names inscribed on large blocks set in the building’s walls. There they are, all the members of the Expedition. We read the names as we circle the building, remembering their roles on the trip. Baptiste Lepase, the translator. Reubin Field, one of the Field brothers that Clark depended upon so often. George Gibson and John Potts and William Bratton. We walk around the comer and keep reading names. John Shield, the fellow Lewis recommended for double pay. The legendary John Colter, who ran naked across Montana and explored the future Yellowstone Park. Richard Warfington, who went back to St. Louis after the first winter and never made it to the mountains. George Shannon, best known for getting lost. Even Seaman, Lewis’s Newfoundland dog, gets his own block. Then come the captains by the other doors, Meriweather Lewis and William Clark, followed by York and Sacagawea. These were the four most valuable members of the expedition, although only two were paid for their work. At this point the two of us start moving quickly past the wall, looking hard for one particular name. Did we miss it? There is Drouilliard the hunter, Sgt. Ordway and Sgt. Floyd. Charbonneau, who flipped the boat and was married to Sacagawea. But where is our man? Where is the fellow that we are following across country? There’s Cruzatte for the second time, and Lewis again and Sacagawea and York. Why can we not find him! And then, back in the furthest comer, after privates Jessaume, Howard and Frazier, obscured by shadows from a thick shrub, we find our man. The soldier whose story we are most interested in. The sailor we have read everything that has been written about (which is very little) and have imagined much. The fellow who joins us on each leg of this journey, he fellow we talk to most every night when the sun sets. Silas Goodrich. Of all the famous names on that trip, our hero may be the least acclaimed. Goodrich was not a great boatsman or hunter, although he never gave the captains reason to complain. He never won a shooting tournament. The sergeants never mentioned his name for any great heroic actions. What he did do, what we admire so much about him, was fish. From St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean, Siras Goodrich had a hook in the river almost every night. “He is our fine fisherman,” Clark wrote of Goodrich early in the trip. When the captains gave orders for setting up camp every night, Goodrich would head back to the river while hunters went out and tents went up. He baited his hook with deer guts or other rotting meats. Then he’d cast into the water, let the bait sit on the bottom of a deep hole or swing it through a deep channel, and catch fish. And he caught lots of fish. Catfish, bass, pike and trout. Herring, shad, salmon and steelhead. Many nights the soldiers ate fish along with their deer, elk, beaver or bison. Some nights they had nothing but fish. Without the fresh fish caught by Siras the crew could have starved a few times, or at least gone very hungry. And here we are, two hundred years later, trying to find that which Siras discovered. Nick Gevock and I, Drew Winterer, both graduate students at the University of Montana, drive from St. Louis, Missouri to Seaside, Oregon, following the Trail and fishing the whole way. We spend two years, traveling on weekend-long to month-long trips from our homes in Missoula, Montana, fishing and talking to other anglers at every stop. We interview federal and state fisheries personnel. We visit bars where anglers tell stories. We tour hatcheries and dams. We take lots of pictures. We fish some more. As we travel in the expeditions footsteps between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean, we imagine Goodrich in his nightly pursuit, always with the familiar look of concentration and satisfaction common to all anglers on his face. Sadly, Silas Goodrich never kept ajournai. Imagine a daily record of the types and numbers of fish available to the traveling angler 200 years ago.