Both the keelboat and pirogues were propelled by sails, and oars and poles. They were going against the current on their trip up the Missouri River.
May 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition departed St. Charles, Mo., they used a 55-foot keelboat, a 41-foot red pirogue and a 39-foot white pirogue.

The keelboat was the best boat of the expedition, carrying 22 tons of supplies, while the pirogues acted as troop carriers.

They started in Pittsburgh, and went down the Ohio River, up the Mississippi River, and up the Missouri River. They crossed the Rocky Mountains in winter. They resumed downriver travel on the Clearwater River to the Snake River, and then went down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. When they returned from the trip in 1806, they split into groups in different areas and then they met up on the Missouri River. They returned to St. Louis in September 1806. They covered more than 8,000 miles, mostly on water. About half of the boat travel was upstream, in boats weighing thousands of pounds.