Lewis+and+Clark





In 1803 Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's Corps of Discovery to find a water route to the Pacific and explore the uncharted West. He believed woolly mammoths, erupting volcanoes, and a mountain of pure salt awaited them. What they found was no less mind-boggling: some 300 species unknown to science, nearly 50 Indian tribes, and the Rockies.

[|National Geographic Journey log]

Lewis and Clark- National Geographic Doco- @http://youtu.be/Mc9tG9aD3P4

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were the leaders of an expedition to explore the vast unknown territory west of the Mississippi River. They were friends who also happened to know President Thomas Jefferson. (Lewis was, in fact, Jefferson's private secretary at the time.) Their job was to learn as much as they could about the new territory. They kept detailed notes in journals, and they brought and sent back examples of hundreds of new species of animals and plants. Both Lewis and Clark had served in the army, and they were familiar with exploring and with Native Americans. They were not, however, familiar with the territory they were about to see. Relying on their skills as soldiers and leaders, they planned to take a team of about 30 on the long journey, from the Missouri Territory to the source of the Columbia River. During the winter of 1803-1804, Lewis and Clark assembled their team. Among them were 14 other soldiers; nine frontiersmen from Kentucky; two French boatmen; and Clark's servant, York. On May 14, 1804, the expedition officially began, with the teams sailing up the Missouri River from a point near St. Louis. They stopped from time to time, then reached the Dakota Territory near wintertime. They decided to build a fort and stay for the winter. While in the Dakota Territory, they met a French man named Toussaint Charbonneau, who offered to guide them on their journey. Charbonneau also offered his Shoshone wife, Sacagawea, as a guide. Lewis and Clark accepted, and the expedition resumed in the spring. While samples of the local wildlife and plantlife made their way back to Thomas Jefferson in Washington, D.C., Lewis and Clark and their team--called the Corps of Discovery--set out west. They followed the Missouri River west until they reached the Great Falls. Here, the water was too rough and they had to carry their canoes around the falls. Despite this back-breaking one-month delay, they pressed on. Soon, they were in Shoshone territory. Sacagawea's communication skills came in handy. Communication between Lewis and Clark and the Shoshone proved difficult but not impossible. Sacagawea would listen to what her fellow Shoshone were saying, then tell her husband what they said in Hidatsa, another Native American language. Charbonneau, who also spoke Hidatsa, would translate into French and tell expedition member Francois Labiche, who would translate into English for the team leaders. Lewis and Clark had also discovered that Sacagawea knew much about the territory they were all traveling through. She knew the safe paths over mountains and down rivers. She knew where her family lived, where they could all get fresh horses and supplies. Crossing the Continental Divide proved difficult, even in warm weather. Snow was still on some of the paths. But by September, the Corps of Discovery was on the other side of the Rocky Mountains and traveling onward. In fact, they had left the land behind. They reached the Clearwater River, which would take them to the Columbia River and, eventually, to the Pacific Ocean. And on November 7, 1805, they saw the great ocean. They celebrated their achievement and built a fort, in which they spent the winter. The next March, they started on the trip home. A few months later, Lewis and Clark split up, in order to cover more territory. Clark and several men went southeast, to the Yellowstone River, and followed it to the Missouri. Lewis took Sacagawea and several men and went northeast. As on the trip west, they kept detailed notes and gathered samples of unfamiliar animal and plant life. On Lewis's part of the journey home, he was involved in a skirmish with Native Americans. (This was the only fight of the entire journey, in both directions.) Lewis's bad luck continued several days later when one of his own men shot him while they were out hunting. The party eventually made it to the Dakota Territory, where Lewis recovered and they left Sacagawea and her family. Incredibly, she had given birth to a baby just before they had departed the Dakota Territory, in 1804, and had carried that baby on her back during the entire expedition. When she arrived home, the baby was 2 years old. Here also, Lewis and Clark hooked up again and headed back to St. Louis. They arrived there on Sept. 22, 1806. In the more than two years of their journey, they had covered 8,000 miles and discovered 173 new plants and 122 species and subspecies of animals.

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