Lewis and Clark were sent to find the Northwest Passage (a river system going from the east coast to the west coast). At the time the expedition was considered a failure because there is no northwest passage. Later though, their discoveries and maps would make the wagon trails possible.
Thomas Jefferson had thought about sending an expedition before then, but there was a good chance everyone on it would die. There had been other plans for expeditions (2 successful); Lewis and Clark were not the first to cross the continent. There was king Louis the 16 (of France) who sent a “scientific” mission that was destroyed by bad weather after it left Botany Bay in 1788. In 1786 John Ledyard told President Jefferson he was going to walk across Siberia, Hop on a fur trader boat, go across the Bering Sea, then he was going to walk to Washington Dc. He got as far as Russia, and then he got himself deported to Poland.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out with their men and a huge shaggy Newfoundland named Seaman on May 14, 1804. They had spent the last few months making arrangements for their trip. Captain Clark had done most of the packing, but Captain Lewis had bought Seaman for $20!
That was a lot of money back then.
Lewis had declared that the mouth of the Dubois River was the official starting point of the expedition. After they left explored ground, they soon had found out that the U.S.A. was wider than Mexico. They hired Cheribonno and Sacagawea. Until they hit the Rockies they were rowing upstream. Then they had to cross the Rockies. Then there was a lot of rain. So they stayed three months in Astoria. They did not like Astoria (rain rain rain [fleas fleas fleas]). As soon as the weather cleared up they left (but during the storm a whale beached. So they had a good look at a 105-foot long skeleton (and traded for blubber). Then they headed though the land of the kleptomaniac Chinook (who stole Seaman [who they got back in one piece without having to trade for]).
It took them 2 years to get there; three months to get back. They were welcomed as Heros. The nation had feared that they had died (only 1 guy died though [sergeant Charles Floyd, Who most likely died of a ruptured appendix]).
Resources
I. The Expedition of the Corps of Discovery: An Overview of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
by Al Bredenberg
http://www.edgate.com/lewisandclark/expedition.html
II. Wikipedia: Lewis and Clark
III. Seaman by Gail Langer Karwoski
I would pay $20 for a good dog, too. He would have been a real help on the trip, not like some furry nose in the cooking pot chocolatey brown dog I know!
ReplyDelete