Lewis and Clark Expedition in American westward expansion

Lewis and Clark Expedition

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned a western expedition for the purpose of exploring and navigating the western portion of the American continent. At the time, the United States consisted of (18) states whose western most point was the Tennessee border on the Mississippi River. That same year, the U.S. consummated the Louisiana Purchase which doubled the territorial size of the Unites States and extended the national borders to the Rocky Mountains. Jefferson not only wanted to exploit and harness what was thought to be an endless bounty of natural resources and available land to the west, he also wanted to located a navigable route to the pacific ocean. As a result, in early 1803, Jefferson engaged U.S. Army Captain Meriweather Lewis to lead an expedition of men to explore and document the western part of America. Lewis enlisted U.S. Army Second Lieutenant William Clark as his partner and the Lewis and Clark Expedition was born.

Lewis and Clark Discover America

The Route in General

Lewis and Clark and their expedition (known as the Corps of Discovery) chartered a route that began in the middle of the continent, near St. Louis, Missouri and traveled along the Missouri River (Lewis and Clark). The Missouri took them west across (the present-day state of) Missouri and then north along Nebraska/Iowa border and then northwest through the Dakotas. In the middle of present day North Dakota, the river turned due west and so the expedition traveled from the east to the west through the length of Montana, across the northern 'panhandle' of Idaho, where they spanned the continental divide of the Rockies and, via the Columbia River, they bisected the Oregon territory along the present day Oregon/Washington border. The route ended at the Pacific Ocean (Lewis and Clark).

Harsh Winters, Giant Grizzlies and the Rockies

Along the way, the expedition faced many treacherous and unprecedented challenges. Despite training at staging camps near Pittsburg and St. Louis, the men were at the mercy of severe winters unlike those of the eastern U.S. seaboard. The plains, Rockies and the Pacific Northwest brought with them much higher winds and lower temperatures than what most of the men were used two.

The first winter (1804) was spend with the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes at the Fort Mandan (North Dakota) which the expedition built, with ample game and the able assistance of the Indians for information and techniques regarding living off the land during the winter. That winter, the expedition met up with a Canadian fur trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau and his wife Sacagawea, a member of the Shoshone tribe, who both agreed to join the expedition (The Journals). As the winter freeze thawed in the spring of 1805 and the Missouri became navigable one again, the expedition pressed forward into land unchartered by any white American hitherto.

As the expedition, moved west along the Mississippi, the next challenge was to survive Grizzly country in Montana. While the expedition encountered a bevy of plants, birds and fish not found in the east, it was the massive and ferocious Grizzly bear which captured the attention, imagination and almost the leader of the expedition. Lewis was chased for nearly 80 yards by a Grizzly before the team managed to successfully kill the bear (Lewis and Clark).

The next hurdle was to successfully navigate through the Great Falls of Montana, which is a series of five falls spread out over a 19-kilometer span which the expedition needed nearly a month to successfully navigate. Finally, the Rocky mountains were in sight and crossing the continental divide was the next obstacle, perhaps less exhilarating than the previous two, but a great deal more onerous (Lewis and Clark).

The expedition was assisted by the Shoshone people, Sacagawea's tribe, whom they encountered prior to ascending the Rockies. The Shoshone bartered with them for horses which the team would need to cross the Rockies and for information relating to the pass routes used by the Nez Perce (Lewis and Clark). With this help, the expedition found a suitable pass in the fall of 1805 along the Montana/Idaho border. However, food was extremely scarce, the horses were not in great condition and the passing through the Rockies proved to be altogether difficult. Still, they did get through, this becoming the first white men to successful travel across the continental divide (Discovering Lewis).

After descending the Rockies, the team used the Columbia River to navigate west into the Oregon territory. The expedition is credited with 'discovering' the inland portions of the Columbia and its significant tributary, the Snake River, which are the two dominant rivers in the Northwest (Lewis and Clark). The discovery and charting of these two rivers led to the re-mapping of the Northwest. Also, unlike the journey upriver along the Missouri, the team now had the current of the mighty Columbia at their backs, a welcome relief for the tired and weary crew (Lewis and Clark).

The Final Leg West

Along the Columbia, the expedition seemed to be zooming towards the Pacific, however in November of 1805 they were hit by a fierce storms of raging winds and rising waters which basically stunted their progress for three weeks. Finally in late November 1805, the team reached the Pacific. The team stayed on the west coast during that winter, hoping to be able o secure passage on a trading ship they knew to frequent the mouth of the Columbia. However, they were unable to, so in the early spring of 1806 they started re-tracing their steps to head home (The Journals).

The Voyage Home