SOUTH DAKOTA
LEWIS & CLARK TRAIL

The expedition's first council with a Sioux nation took place here when Lewis and Clark met the Yankton Sioux at Calumet Bluff on August 30, 1804. The encounter was notably cordial — far calmer than the tense confrontation that awaited them further upriver with the Teton Sioux. A baby was born during the council, an event later memorialized at the Akta Lakota Museum. The adjoining Lewis and Clark Recreation Area on the Lewis and Clark Lake reservoir offers camping, boating, and river access at the site of this pivotal early diplomatic success.

On August 25, 1804, Lewis and Clark made a special detour to climb this small but distinctive mound, which area Native nations believed was inhabited by 18-inch-tall 'little people' with great spiritual power — so feared that few would approach it. The captains climbed it anyway, found no devils, but were rewarded with sweeping views of bison, elk, and the surrounding prairie. Today the site is restored to native tallgrass prairie with a walking trail to the summit, offering nearly the same panoramic view the expedition described in their journals — one of the most evocative and unaltered Lewis and Clark landscapes anywhere on the trail.

Located on the University of South Dakota campus, this natural and cultural history museum provides excellent context for the wildlife and Native nations the Corps of Discovery encountered in southeastern South Dakota, complementing a visit to nearby Spirit Mound. Exhibits cover the region's geology, prairie ecosystems, and the Yankton Sioux people who called this stretch of the Missouri River valley home.

An immersive museum with interactive exhibits and engaging displays bringing the Corps of Discovery's journey vividly to life — covering their encounters with Native nations, the physical challenges of the river journey, and the expedition's lasting impact on American history. One of the best-curated Lewis and Clark visitor experiences in South Dakota, set on the bluffs above the Missouri River near several significant 1804 campsites.

Located on the campus of St. Joseph's Indian School, this exceptional museum presents Lakota and Dakota history, art, and culture in depth — essential context for understanding the Sioux nations the expedition encountered throughout South Dakota. The museum notes that a baby was born during the August 1804 council with the Yankton Sioux nearby. One of the finest Native cultural institutions on the entire Lewis and Clark Trail.

A breathtaking 50-foot stainless steel statue of a Lakota/Dakota woman in a star quilt dress, overlooking the Missouri River from an I-90 rest area. Created by South Dakota artist Dale Lamphere, the statue honors the Lakota and Dakota people of the region the Corps of Discovery moved through in September 1804. Visible from the highway, it has become one of the most photographed and beloved public artworks in South Dakota — a powerful modern tribute standing above the same river the expedition navigated.

On September 7, 1804, the expedition encountered prairie dogs for the first time, which they called 'barking squirrels.' The entire party spent hours trying to capture one alive by pouring water down its burrow — they eventually succeeded and shipped the animal back to President Jefferson, along with a live magpie, as evidence of the strange new creatures of the West. The prairie surrounding present-day Gregory County still hosts active prairie dog colonies, offering visitors a living connection to one of the expedition's most charming scientific discoveries.

On September 20, 1804, the expedition reached the Big Bend of the Missouri River, where the river loops back on itself so dramatically that Clark measured the distance across the Narrows at only 2,000 feet on foot — compared to 30 miles by water. The Narrows Recreation Area preserves this natural landmark, with West Bend Recreation Area nearby offering fishing, boating, and camping. One of the most visually striking geographic features the Corps documented on the entire river journey.

Ancient burial and ceremonial mounds built by Plains Woodland culture peoples between 800 and 1700 CE, located along the Missouri River near the Big Bend that Lewis and Clark documented in September 1804. The mounds offer profound context for the deep Native history of this stretch of the river — civilizations that long predated the expedition's arrival and whose descendants the Corps encountered throughout their journey.

Perhaps the single most consequential moment of the entire 1804 outbound journey. On September 24, three Teton Lakota boys swam across the Missouri to alert the Corps to a nearby village. The next day's council, held at the mouth of the Bad River, nearly turned violent when a Lakota warrior seized the keelboat's cable as Clark attempted to return to the boat. With roughly 100 armed Lakota facing 44 members of the expedition, only the intervention of Chief Black Buffalo prevented bloodshed. The encounter remains the closest the expedition came to a premature, violent end. Today a boulder-mounted plaque, NPS wayside exhibit, and flagpoles mark the site within Fischers Lilly Park.

Named for French explorer brothers Louis and Chevalier Verendrye, who passed through this region 60 years before Lewis and Clark and buried a lead plate atop a nearby hill in 1743, claiming the Missouri River basin for France. The plate, lost for 170 years, was discovered by local schoolchildren in 1913 and is now displayed at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center. The Verendrye Monument on the hilltop is a National Historic Landmark with sweeping views of the Missouri River valley, just blocks from the Bad River Encounter Site.

South Dakota's premier state history museum, with galleries spanning from dinosaurs through Native nations, the fur trade, and homesteading. Visitors can view the Verendrye lead plate, examine replica trade goods, step inside a full-sized tipi, and encounter treasures connected directly to the Lewis and Clark Expedition's passage through the region in 1804. Essential context for understanding the Yankton, Teton, and Arikara nations the Corps encountered.

A mile-and-a-half-long wooded island in the Missouri River that the expedition named 'Good Humored Island' after spotting abundant elk and buffalo here on a day when spirits were running high — just before the tense Bad River encounter that followed. An interpretive sign on the island describes the events of September 25, 1804, and visitors can watch the Bad River pour into the Missouri from this vantage point, imagining the historic council that unfolded nearby.

While not a direct Lewis and Clark site, this museum celebrating legendary rodeo cowboy Casey Tibbs and South Dakota's broader ranching and rodeo culture offers a glimpse into the spirit of the American West that the Corps of Discovery helped open to later generations of settlers and ranchers. A worthwhile cultural stop while exploring the Fort Pierre/Pierre area's deep Lewis and Clark history.

On October 4, 1804, the expedition passed an abandoned Arikara village, noting the remains of substantial earthlodge dwellings. West Whitlock Recreation Area features a faithful replica of such a village, helping visitors visualize the sophisticated agricultural society the Arikara had built along the Missouri River — a settled civilization quite different from the nomadic Sioux nations encountered further south.

On October 8, 1804, the expedition discovered three Arikara villages near present-day Mobridge, and held formal councils with the nation over the following days. The Arikara were fascinated by York, Clark's enslaved manservant — the first Black man many had ever seen. It was also near here, on October 13, that Private John Newman was court-martialed for 'mutinous expression,' receiving 75 lashes and being discharged from the permanent party — the expedition's most serious disciplinary episode.

Two significant monuments stand near Mobridge on Highway 1806: a memorial bust honoring Sitting Bull, the great Hunkpapa Lakota leader (whose remains were controversially relocated here from Fort Yates in 1953), and a monument to Sacagawea, who would join the expedition the following spring at Fort Mandan in North Dakota. Together they bridge the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition with the broader, complex history of Lakota-American relations that followed.