The Corps—about 47 men, including 30 or so permanent members—set out on the Missouri River near St. Louis on May 14, 1804, “under a jentle brease.” Soon soft winds and high spirits gave way to swift currents and stiff resistance. “Current was so Strong,” Clark wrote on June 15, 1804, “that we could not Stem it with our Sales under a Stiff breese in addition to our ores, we were compelled to...use the Toe rope.” Sailing, paddling, pushing, pulling, they would fight the devilish current all the way to the Rockies.