Clothed for Cold

Journal 2004 12 13
Clothed for Cold

Twenty degrees below zero overnight at Fort Mandan! Captain Lewis has a lynx pelt with three inches of fur that he has made into gloves and a hat. No polarfleece, Mongolian goose down or other synthetic fibers on the prairie two hundred years ago. But I believe that fur still serves the same purpose quite well as is evidenced in Siberia yet today.

Captain Lewis measures the Missouri River at five hundred feet in width. The river is iced over so thick that herds of bison cross without a problem.

It has been so cold that an “ice fog” has been present for the last two days. Ice fog is created when the air temperature is so cold that any moisture in the air is frozen. I’ve seen the ice fog in Fairbanks, Alaska and it is pretty incredible, and cold! The problem is worse today in our modern world because of pollution. We don’t have this problem in Western Washington where we simply wash away all our problems! (Maybe a mold and mildew problem instead?)

Back to the Corps of Discovery, all the men with frostbite are recovering nicely.