When Lewis and Clark finally emerged from the Rocky Mountains 16 months into their journey, the crew was thin and weak. Their route through the Great Plains had provided a bounty of protein, and they’d grown accustomed to feasts of bison, elk and deer. In unfamiliar territory that seemed derelict of big game, they relied on the Nez Perce Indians to fill their stomachs.
The tribe graciously provided the corps with dried salmon and camas root...