An accomplished carpenter and boat builder, Patrick Gass proved to be an invaluable and well-liked member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Promoted to sergeant after the death of Charles Floyd, Gass was almost certainly responsible for supervising the building of Forts Mandan and Clatsop. His records of those forts and of the earth lodges of the Mandans and Hidatsas are particularly detailed and useful. Gass was the last survivor of the Corps of Discovery, living until 1870 long enough to see trains cross a continent that he had helped open. His engaging and detailed journal became the...

Sergeant Patrick Gass was one of the few members of the Lewis and Clark expedition to keep a continuous log of the entire epic journey. His simple and direct writing style, along with his emphasis on the daily activities of the trip, mad Gass's journal more accessible to the general reader than other firsthand accounts and revealed the optimistic spirit of the expedition.