Lewis & Clark

In May of 1804, Capts. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark proceeded to St. Louis, Mo., in obedience to the following order issued by President Jefferson by authority of Congress: Go up the Missouri to its sources; find out, if possible, the fountains of the Mississippi and the true position of the Lake of the Woods: cross the stony mountains, and having found the nearest river flowing into the Pacific, go down it to the sea. The expedition. - Outfitting in St. Louis, Captain Lewis and Captain Clark, with four sergeants and twenty-three privates of the Regular Army, and an Indian interpreter, began the long, tedious journey up the swift current of the Missouri, reaching its headwaters approximately one year later. Crossing the Rocky Mountains, through the Bitter Root Range, they found the Clearwater River. Proceeding down its course through exceedingly rough country to tho Snake River, in what is now Idaho, they continued on to the Northwest to the junction of the Snake with the lordly Columbia. Launching their canoes upon the broad reaches of this most beautiful stream in October, 1805, they drifted down to the Pacific Ocean, reaching their destination November 7, one month later. Returning from there to St. Louis, with their surveys and maps of the regions explored, they completed the required journey in a little over two years' time. Claim of United States to territory established. - How little was known of the great domain secured to the United States in the purchase of the Louisiana Territory is revealed in part by the wording of the President's order. How much was learned and its importance to the Nation was contained in part in the report those two intrepid Army officers gave upon their return. The most important result obtained was the firm establishment of the claim of the United States by overland exploration, its first claim being made through the earlier discovery of this north Pacific country by Capt. Robert Gray, of Boston, who sailed his ship from the Pacific Ocean up a great river in 1792, naming it the Columbia, in honor of the three hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. The new country. - The Lewis and Clark expedition gave the people their first idea of the vast area, enormous natural resources, and grandeur of the Pacific Northwest. They were the forerunners of what soon became a mighty host of emigrants into the land of the setting sun.