Lewis and Clark in the Gallatin: The Corps Splits the Valley
Near Bozeman, Montana
In late July of eighteen oh five, the Lewis and Clark Expedition reached Three Forks, where Lewis named the Gallatin River for the Secretary of the Treasury. The Corps of Discovery was searching for the headwaters of the Missouri and a passage to the Columbia River system. Meriwether Lewis noted in his journal that the Gallatin Valley was one of the most beautiful pieces of country he had seen, richly watered and covered with grass.
At Three Forks, fifty miles northwest, the expedition identified the three tributaries, naming the others the Madison for Secretary of State James Madison and the Jefferson for the president. On the return journey in eighteen oh six, the captains split the party at Traveler's Rest near present-day Missoula, and William Clark led a detachment south through the Gallatin Valley while Lewis explored the Marias River to the north.
