The Lewis and Clark Expedition
Researched by Andrew W. 2002-03	RESEARCH REPORT  MY INTERVIEW  BIBLIOGRAPHY  ABOUT THE AUTHOR  PRODUCTS I CREATED DEDICATION  WHY I CHOSE THIS TOPIC  SELF-EVALUATION  THANK YOU

The Lewis and Clark expedition was an exploring party sent by President Thomas Jefferson.  Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the expedition.  Their goal was to find a waterway from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.  It was one of the most successful expeditions, even though they never found a waterway. They got so much information on plants, animals and Indian cultures, that it helped the society for decades. 

The group had to bring two pick axes, six kettles, fishing hooks and line, 30 shirts, a pair of pocket pistols, 15 rifles and ammunition, four metal pens to write with, a measuring tape, one portable microscope, twenty-four iron spoons, and a mariner compass.  They also had to bring twelve silk handkerchiefs; one hundred burning glasses, six bells, two dozen tinsel tassel, fifty pounds of spun tobacco, and British uniforms for Indian trade.

This expedition had been in the mind of Thomas Jefferson for about twenty years.  Once he was elected president he asked his private secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead an expedition to the western part of the U.S.  Lewis chose William Clark as his co-leader.  They wanted to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean and to get information on plants and animals.  Lewis spent time in St. Louis making all the preparations, while Clark spent time a little up-river at St. Charles where he trained the men. 

They left St. Louis on May 21, 1804.  Going up the Missouri River was tough with the swift current.  They raised their sail in favorable winds.  Clark stayed on the ships while Lewis walked along on shore and took notes on plants and animals.  They traveled 10 miles a day on average.  Ticks and mosquitoes were very troublesome.   They sent Thomas Jefferson magpies, prairie dogs, boxes of animal skin, horns, Indian articles, small samples of soil and plants, and Clark’s map back on a keelboat.  After that there were only 32 people left.  On August 20 Sergeant Charles Floyd died of a ruptured appendix, he was the only person to die the whole time.  By the end of October 1804 they stopped for the winter near the Mandon and Hidatsa Indian villages and built Fort Mandon. 

Crossing the Rocky Mountains was a very hard time on the steep narrow path.  On November 1805 they reached the Pacific Ocean and built Fort Clatsop for the winter.

They left Fort Clatsop in March 1806.  Once they reached the Bitterroot Range in June they divided into two groups, Lewis led his group through a shorter route over the mountains while Clark and his group explored the Yellowstone River.  When Lewis’ group reached the Missouri River they set out to explore the Marias River. They had a brief fight with the Blackfeet Indians who had tried to steal guns and horses.  In August they reunited on the Missouri River and went the rest of the way together.  They reached St. Louis in September 1806. 

The Lewis and Clark expedition opened up the west and they claimed the Oregon region, which are now the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.  Pioneer movement started west in mid 1805.  Lewis and Clark gathered information on 178 different plants and 122 different kinds of animals.  They got information on the Indian cultures and languages.  They made peaceful contact with 40 different Indian tribes. 

Lewis was born in Albemarle county Virginia in1774.  He joined the U.S. Army in 1794 and rose to the rank of captain. In 1800 he became President Jefferson’s private secretary.  On the Lewis and Clark expedition, he served as the main leader and a naturalist.  After the expedition, he became the governor of the Louisiana territory.  Personal problems haunted him after the expedition.  No one knew how he died in1809. Some people think he committed suicide, and some people thought he was murdered

William Clark was born in Caroline county Virginia in 1770.  Clark’s brother, George Clark, became a hero in the Revolutionary War.  Lewis invited Clark to join the expedition. They privately agreed to share command of expedition.  They explored the Louisiana territory and the Pacific Northwest.  In addition to command also important were the maps he made of their route and record-keeping duties.  After the expedition, Clark held several public offices in St. Louis.  He died in 1838.

Sacagawea was born in 1787 as a Shoshone Indian. She joined the expedition in 1805 in North Dakota after Lewis and Clark hired her husband as an interpreter.  Her contributions though important were much more limited.  She was the expedition’s heroic guide and an interpreter.  They knew she would help interpret the Shoshone language in the Shoshone territory.  She also helped secure horses from her tribe for the expedition to use.  She died in 1812 at age 25. 
 
 
 

Who I Interviewed and What I Learned I did a personal interview of Carrie Clark on January 2, 2003 at Maryhill Museum.  She was a good choice because she knew a lot about the Lewis and Clark expedition.  She had been studying the Lewis and Clark expedition since 1979 in the heritage society. She was the assistant manager of the museum.  She also sets up the exhibits about the expedition.  I learned that the Lewis and Clark expedition members ate salmon, acorns, other nuts, dogs, horses, and other game they killed.  They ate horses and dogs in the winter because they didn’t have any thing else to eat.  Their greatest obstacle was not being able to talk with the native Americans face to face, but for the most part native Americans were nice.  Lewis and Clark traded for horses and food with them and traded British uniforms for the bright red color for making baskets, they also traded clothes, ribbon, and beads.  The beads are for their clothes and on the baskets they make.  The biggest impact was that they opened up the west.  She also showed me all the exhibits on Lewis and Clark that they had.  One exhibit was of baskets that the Indians made for them.  One of them had some red in it from the British uniform that Lewis and Clark traded with them.  They had some axes with blades tied on the piece of wood.  The expedition built Fort Clatsop in winter of 1805.

Bibliography Blunberg, Rhonda  The Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark  New York Scholastic, inc.  1987  32-38, 40, 42 Cavan, Seamus  Lewis and Clark and the route to the Pacific  New York Chelsea House Publisher  1991  13-33  41-52 Clark, Carrie.  Personal interview.  January 2, 2003 "Fort Clatsop National Memorial"   Microsoft Encarta   2001 Kroll, Steven.  Lewis and Clark Explorers of the American West.   New York  Holiday House, inc.  1994  7-34 McGrath, Patrick  The Lewis and Clark Expedition  New Jersey Silver Burdett Company, 1985 7-61 Moulton, Gary E  "Lewis and Clark Expedition" The World Book Encyclopedia  2002   221-224  Ronda, James P.  "Lewis and Clark Expedition." Microsoft Encarta.  2001 Schanzer, Rosalyn.  How We Crossed the American West Adventure of Lewis and Clark   Washington D.C. National Geographic Society, 1997  4-34

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