The Lewis & Clark Expedition was accomplished by Captain Meriwether Lewis, Captain William Clark, and their fellow explorers, and was the visionary journey of President Thomas Jefferson. The journey was to become one of America's greatest adventure stories. Remarkably, while plans for the travel were being made, the Louisiana Purchase became a reality. In 1803 Jefferson obtained approval from Congress to form a small Army unit to explore the Missouri and Columbia Rivers. The small discovery unit, consisting of some 30 Army personnel and 15 boatmen and woodsmen, began their journey near St. Louis, Missouri in 1804. They spent the winter of 1804-05 in North Dakota, where they hired a French fur-trader as interpreter, who married a Shoshone Indian maiden named Sacagawea. She was to become an important asset to the expedition.
In the spring of 1805, having divested itself of the boatmen, the expeditions' [sic] roster showed 2 Captains, 3 Sergeants, 23 Enlisted Men, 2 Interpreters, Clark's man York, and Sacagawea with infant son. They departed North Dakota with six canoes and two pirogues. In Montana, the explorers were faced with their first long portages. Attaching cottonwood wheels to the heavily loaded canoes they were able to negotiate the steep banks and complete the long traverses on the prairie. In July 1805, the expedition reached the vicinity of the Continental Divide, near the tribal lands of the Shoshone. Here the expedition determined its need for horses for riding and as pack animals. Sacagawea's service as intermediary was essential in the succesful negotiations with the Indians. In September, the half-starved expedition reached the village of another friendly Indian tribe, the Nez Perce. Here they built new canoes and left their horses in the care of the Nez Perce.
They entered the Clearwater River in mid September, reached the Snake River in early October, and on October 16 they reached the Columbia River. Despite savage winds, squalls, and ocean swells in the estuary, they finally walked the sands of the Pacific in mid-November 1805. Their unprotected exposure to the fierce winter storms and lack of game forced them to find winter quarters. These they found near present day Astoria, Oregon, naming the site Fort Clatsop for their Indian neighbors. Lewis & Clark began the return journey in March 1806. During the winter, the men hunted for food and made clothing from elk skins. The Captains worked on their journal entries: Lewis filled his journal with descriptions of plants, mammals, birds, fish, and Indian culture. Clark drew illustrations of animals, plants, and made maps. On September 23, 1806 the expedition arrived back in St. Louis. The explorers had covered nearly 8,000 miles in two years, four months, and ten days.
[Map caption reads]
"Following in the Steps of Captains Lewis and Clark"
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