More or less as soon as they paddled upriver from St. Charles, the Corps of Discovery were in parts of the Louisiana Purchase about which almost nothing was known.
The expedition generally made good time up the Missouri, considering they were always paddling against the current. The keelboat and pirogues (canoes) managed about one mile an hour.
They met a few fur traders, often in the company of Native Americans. Many were coming downriver on rafts made of felled logs strapped together.
