Jefferson's update
In Washington City, President Thomas Jefferson hears news of Lewis and writes to him asking for a first-hand account of his progress. He warns that any further delays may lose a year in the end.
Missing hair pipes
The captains work in St. Louis while the men at Camp River Dubois follow Sgt. Ordway’s orders. In an undated note, Clark informs Lewis that he can’t find the hair pipes purchased as Indian gifts.
A sudden storm
A sudden storm forces the boats to take immediate shelter. Hunting ahead of the boats, Clark kills three mule deer. Towards evening, they continue and encamp near present Trenton, North Dakota.
Friendly Tenino village
To continue up the Columbia, most of the members must walk over large sand dunes. At present Rock Creek, they reach a friendly Tenino village of Wah-how-pum. The day ends with smoking and dancing.
Forgotten explorer
by Jay H. Buckley
Like his contemporaries Lewis and Clark, Pike also provided information on flora and fauna and discovered several new species. His southern exploration paved the way for a viable route linking the United States and Santa Fe.
In the afternoon of 4 June 1804, William Clark decided to investigate the purported occurrence of lead in the vicinity of a rather unique prominence he named “Mine Hill,” but which is known today as Sugar Loaf Rock. The search was unsuccessful, but Lewis’s previous inquiries while in St. Louis resulted in 11 specimens sent to Thomas Jefferson.
The mistake should never be made that the two men were friends. They were master and slave, owner and property, superior and inferior. As close as that relationship was for the many years and countless miles they were by each other’s side, for all the dangers and hardships they shared their relationship always was based on William as master and York as servant.
Was it Jacob Myers?
by William K. Brunot
Valuable reevaluation of the evidence has accumulated about the building of the Lewis and Clark barge some two hundred years ago. Much of this evidence supports the conclusion that Jacob Myers was the principal builder.
Enhydra lutris
by Cameron La Follette, Douglas Deur
By the time of Lewis and Clark’s sojourn at the mouth of the Columbia River in the winter of 1805-1806, sea otter hunts and trading ventures had been at white heat for twenty years
Legacy is a very slippery sort of term. If we could erase our myth concepts of Lewis and Clark … it might reawaken something really extraordinary in our national consciousness.
Although hunting and fishing were often considered a ‘gentleman’s sport’ especially in Europe, hunting and fishing for Native Americans and Americans alike were a matter of survival. The success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition depended on the success of its hunters.
Given President Jefferson’s directive to establish commerce, the captains worked extensively within a long-established network of North American fur trade. Part of their mission was to help establish the United States of America’s position within that industry.
From major crisis such as the death of Sgt. Floyd, Lewis’s gunshot wound, and the illness of Sacagawea to minor events such as sexually transmitted diseases, mosquito-born illnesses, and deep cuts, the medical aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition provide an interesting topic of study.
Expedition Calendar
Links to every day-by-day page in a calendar format spanning 31 August 1803 to 26 September 1806. A page every day!
Starting at Pittsburgh, traveling to the Pacific Ocean, and then returning to St. Louis, the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled approximately 10,600 miles. Of that, 85%—over 9,000 miles—was by boat. To understand travel in the early 1800 American West is to understand the boats and challenges of river navigation.
Their work in the emerging fields of botany, ethnography, geography, geology, and zoology are now considered classics of early American scientific literature.
The President’s representatives in Paris had bargained successfully with Napoleon’s bureaucrats not only to buy the port of New Orleans, then the keystone of the continent, but also to acquire, at three cents an acre, an area extending from the Mississippi River to . . . where? No one knew until Meriwether Lewis stood at the crest of the Rocky Mountains at a place known today as Lemhi Pass, on 12 August 1805.
Throughout the expedition the soldiers were expected to conform to the rules and routines of the frontier soldier of 1803.
To cross the Rocky Mountains, the Lewis and Clark Expedition needed horses and the skills to manage them. Despite their seemingly constant struggle to find missing and stolen horses, as a kind of calvary unit, they left hoof prints on approximately 1,500 miles of western terrain.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition benefited from the Indians’ knowledge and support. Maps, route information, food, horses, open-handed friendship—all gave the Corps of Discovery the edge that spelled the difference between success and failure.
Lewis and Clark were among several significant explorers of North America both before and after the expedition.
The success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was due to its many members and the people they met, including politicians, Eastern gentleman scientists, traders, and the many people already living in the American west.
Starting with its genesis in Jefferson’s Monticello, Lewis’s training and preparations in Philadelphia, and the barge’s excursion down the Ohio River, the route they took, often called the Lewis and Clark Trail, crosses the continent weaving an epic tale of western exploration treasured by many today.
From clichés and colorful sayings of the time to Native American languages, these pages feature the art of language.
Lewis and Clark left behind among many Indians a legacy of nonviolent contact. Those who came later enjoyed that legacy and too often betrayed it.
Other topics include music, holidays, High Potential Historic Sites, and an index of articles from We Proceeded On.
Because of the literate journalists, historians and visual artists can tell the Expedition’s story. When they celebrated with song and dance, we too can share in the experience.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).
