On May 14, 1804 William Clark and the party of 38 men “Set out from Camp River a Dubois at 4 oClock P. M. and proceded up the Missouris” where they would meet up with Meriwether Lewis at St. Charles, Missouri. The expedition traveled in three boats: “the Party Consisted of 2, Self one frenchman and 22 Men in the Boat of 20 ores, 1 Serjt. & 7 french in a large Perogue, a Corp and 6 Soldiers in a large Perogue…” These three boats were the principal form of transportation the expedition used in reaching their winter of 1804-1805 camp at the Mandan villages in present day North Dakota. The Keelboat Keelboats were common rivercraft at the beginning of the 19th century. They were large flat-bottomed boats with a heavy timber (the keel) running down the center of the whole length of the boat to absorb the shock of running into an underwater obstruction. Before the advent of the steamboat, keelboats were the dominant boat for upriver travel. Normally a keelboat was dismantled for scrap after its journey, although the Corps of Discovery sent its keelboat back down river in the spring of 1805 to St. Louis loaded with scientific artifacts for President Jefferson. Keelboats ranged from 40 to 75 feet long and 7 to 18 feet wide. To carry cargo the keelboat was fitted with a cargo box. This storage area occupied the entire body of the boat; with the exception of about twelve feet at bow and stern and rose four or five feet above the deck. For propulsion keelboats used sails, paddles,...
No one really knew how long it would take to accomplish the mission, so they were prepared to endure and succeed and take as long as necessary. Westbound 550 days – May 14, 1804 to November 15, 1805 Camped on Pacific coast 128 days – November 15, 1805 to March 23, 1806 Eastbound 184 days – March 23, 1806 to September 23, 1806 Total travel 862 days – May 14, 1804 to September 23,...
On February 28, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson won approval from Congress for a visionary project, an endeavor that would become one of America’s greatest stories of adventure. Lewis and Clark’s Outbound Route Shown in Red, Inbound in Blue Twenty-five hundred dollars were appropriated to fund a small expeditionary group, whose mission was to explore the uncharted West. Jefferson called the group the Corps of Discovery. It would be led by Jefferson’s secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and Lewis’ friend,William Clark. Over the next four years, the Corps of Discovery would travel thousands of miles, experiencing lands, rivers and peoples that no Americans ever had before. Content: PBS.ORG Photo:...
Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and 31 other persons comprised the “Permanent Party” of the 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition. Although many individuals were associated with the military cadre during its 1803-1804 initial stages of travel from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Fort Mandan, North Dakota, only those 33 members who journeyed from Fort Mandan to Fort Clatsop, Oregon, and returned comprised the Permanent Party. In addition, there was a 34th member – Seaman, Captain Lewis’ “dogg of the Newfoundland breed.” The party of 33 included 29 individuals who were active participants in the Corps’ organizational development, recruitment and training at its 1803-1804 winter staging area at Camp Dubois, Illinois Territory; its journey up the Missouri River; and its stay at Fort Mandan, the expedition’s 1804-1805 winter headquarters. Two members originally recruited for the Pacific bound party, Privates Moses Reed and John Newman, were dismissed before the explorers reached Fort Mandan. Reed was convicted for desertion, and Newman for “mutinous acts.” Stiff sentences, including “100 lashes on [Newman’s] bear back” were imposed through trials by court martial proceedings. Due to the remote, wilderness places of their crimes, both remained with the party over the Fort Mandan winter, doing hard labor. They were sent downriver aboard the keelboat in the spring of 1806. Two French-Canadian fur traders, Jean Baptiste LePage and Toussaint Charbonneau, were enlisted at Fort Mandan to replace Newman and Reed. LePage held the rank of private, and Charbonneau, together with his Shoshone Indian wife, Sacagawea, who would be burdened with their infant boy, Jean Baptiste, were recruited as interpreters. The Fort Mandan-to-Fort Clatsop personnel were of...
Once he was named by President Thomas Jefferson to head the Corps of Discovery, Meriwether Lewis began preparations for the long trip ahead. Much of that preparation involved education; in the months prior to his departure, Lewis would learn astronomy, botany, navigation, medicine and biology, among other scientific disciplines. In addition, Lewis spent his time accumulating all the supplies that the expedition was going to need. He wrote list after list of provisions, which included guns, ammunition, medical supplies and scientific instruments. While still on the East Coast, Lewis accumulated almost two tons of goods using the $2,500 Congress had allocated for the expedition. The following list is only a sampling of the supplies taken west by the Corps of Discovery, but it should give a sense of what an undertaking the expedition was. Mathematical Instruments: surveyor’s compass hand compass quadrants telescope thermometers 2 sextants set of plotting instruments chronometer (needed to calculate longitude) Camp Supplies: 150 yards of cloth to be oiled and sewn into tents and sheets pliers chisels 30 steels for striking to make fire handsaws hatchets whetstones iron corn mill two dozen tablespoons mosquito curtains 10 1/2 pounds of fishing hooks and fishing lines 12 pounds of soap 193 pounds of “portable soup” (a thick paste concocted by boiling down beef, eggs and vegetables) three bushels of salt writing paper, ink and crayons Presents for Indians: 12 dozen pocket mirrors 4,600 sewing needles 144 small scissors 10 pounds of sewing thread silk ribbons ivory combs handkerchiefs yards of bright-colored cloth 130 rolls of tobacco tomahawks that doubled as pipes 288...
Woolly mammoths, Peruvian llamas, blue-eyed, Welsh-speaking Indians. In 1803, such myths defined the uncharted West. The Lewis and Clark expedition later dispelled such speculations, including the most widely held myth and hope: the existence of a “northwest passage.” Such a passage — a river or series of connected rivers that would cross the western mountains and reach the Pacific Ocean — would have allowed more direct commerce with the Orient. Thomas Jefferson believed the discovery of the northwest passage would break open the wealth of North America. Living in America When Jefferson took the Oath of Office as the third President of the United States on March 4, 1801, the nation had 5,308,483 people within its boundaries, which reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Mississippi River in the west, from the Great Lakes in the north nearly to the Gulf of Mexico in the south (roughly 1,000 miles by 1,000 miles). Only a comparably small area was occupied, however, and two-thirds of the population lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic. Jefferson and many of his contemporaries were plantation owners. He and other “Virginia gentlemen” ascribed to a distinct lifestyle. On their vast estates, they led lives of refinement and enlightenment, hosting balls and dinners or discussing politics, philosophy and religion. A party at Jefferson’s plantation, for example, often followed a day of riding and hunting. Guests feasted on sweet potatoes, peas, corn, breads, nuts, quail, ham, venison, bear, duck, milk and beer. Jefferson personally selected the best wines from France. For entertainment, he often played the violin while guests...
