I’ve been reading the journals of Lewis and Clark and others from the Corps of Discovery expedition (which began in May, 1804). (You can read them online here.)

It’s compelling, entertaining reading, and not just because of Clark’s hilarious spelling.

During the first two weeks of September, 1804, the expedition was traveling through Knox County Nebraska, heading toward South Dakota. They lugged their pirogues and keelboat up a creek, which, in Clark’s words, “abounds with blumbs of a Delicious flavor.” But fresh fruit was a luxury for the men of the Corps (Sacagawea had not yet joined them). They lived on cornmeal and meat. Lots and lots of meat. Moving the keelboat and pirogues upriver was hard work. Every soldier consumed up to nine pounds of meat per day.

But let’s let Clark tell it. On July 13, 1805, Clark wrote: “We eat an emensity of meat; it requires 4 deer, or an elk and a deer, or one buffaloe to supply us plentifully 24 hours.”