There is no doubt that Patrick Gass was carpenter-in-charge for building Camp Wood, Fort Mandan and Fort Clapsop. Only in his journal is found the dimensions and layout of Fort Mandan.
At the Great Falls of the Missouri, Lewis assigned Gass and blacksmith Shields to craft and fit the interior braces of the iron boat, once they located suitable lumber. In October 1805, on the Clearwater River in Idaho, Gass and three others repaired a canoe that had split open and doused the stock of trade goods. While the "merchandize" dried out on the 10th, they went to work and "at 1 oClock She was finished Stronger than ever" according to Clark.
When faced with the decision at the mouth of the Marias River, about which fork was the true Missouri, the captains first sent Gass and two men up the Missouri while Ordway and two others went up the Marias. Gass marched only 6.5 miles, Ordway 10, and neither found the large expected waterfall. Those two forays changed bo one's minds and the captains made their own separate and lengthier treks.
--Brock-Perry
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