LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION
In 1792 Jefferson proposed to the American Philosophic Society that a subscription be raised to send some one to ascend the Missouri, cross the mountains, and descend to the Pacific. It was decided that the expedition should consist of two men. Meriwether Lewis, then only eighteen years old, begged to have charge of the commission. Andrew Michaux, a French botanist, was to be his companion. The expedition was really begun, when it was found out that Michaux was residing in the United States as a spy, and with this the plan was deferred.
In 1803 the act for establishing trading houses with Indian tribes had almost expired, and some changes in the treaty were recommended to Congress. Accordingly, it was proposed that an exploring party be sent to trace the Missouri to its source, to cross the Highlands, and follow the best water communication from that point to the Pacific ocean, in order to prepare the way for the changes.
Congress approved of the proposition, and voted a sum of money for its execution. Captain Lewis had been the private secretary of Mr. Jefferson for nearly two years. He again begged to have charge of the expedition. Mr. Jefferson was naturally inclined to intrust the work to his friend Lewis, for he had had time to test the character of the young man. Moreover, Lewis' confidential position made him acquainted with the inner details of the plan, of its broadest significance, and the political obstacles to be overcome in carrying it into effect. His public service had strengthened his national interests, and he was enthusiastic for adventure. The expedition, both in its organization and execution, required considerable skill and tact on the part of the promoters of the enterprise, especially in their dealing with foreign nations. Our nation was beset and harassed north, south and west as it sought to expand and take form. At this time the United States did not have cordial relations with any of the strong nations of the world. The internal machinery of the government was not yet in perfect working order, and permanence of democratic forms and methods was not by any means assured. Russia was the only nation that was even considered friendly. The English wanted to get control of the Indian traffic of the Northwest, and their prestige was already firmly fixed. Our government knew if the object of the expedition should be known, England would not take kindly to it. The opposition of the Spanish would be even stronger. Bitterly hostile to the growth of American ideas, they would do all in their power to oppose the expedition. But it was with France that our government would have to deal most directly. In 1800 Napoleon had acquired the title to Louisiana by trading with Spain, but so busily engaged was he at home, he had found no time to reduce his property to possessions, and he had no adequate means for defending his new domains, which would likely fall into the hands of the English. He was getting anxious to be rid of the load, and negotiations were pending for its transfer to the United States.
When Jefferson first thought of this expedition to the West negotiations with France for Louisiana were being made. Jefferson thought this the proper time for discovering what the land held, and this was the primary purpose of the Lewis and Clark expedition. For all these reasons, and more, it was necessary to keep from the general view the real character of the enterprise.
The appropriation by Congress was made for the purpose of "extending the external commerce of the United States." June 30, 1803, Jefferson gave Captain Lewis the detailed instructions for the conduct of his work. In the meantime treaties had been signed at Paris ceding Louisiana to the United States for $15,000,000. Not until the first part of July were the formal notifications of the transfer received, when active preparations for the exploration were being made. But the receipt of this information did not change the character of the expedition, although the work in most of its aspects was now purely domestic.
Some happy-go-lucky Frenchmen in the earlier years had advanced for a little way up the Missouri to carry on a fur trade with the Indians. But, so far as sure knowledge of it was concerned, the land was virgin, and Lewis and Clark were to be its discoverers. Lewis and Clark were directed to blaze a path through the wilderness, explore the land, noting its physical peculiarities, its streams and mountains, the nature of the soil; to make a careful study of the Indian tribes inhabiting the land, their attitude to the United States and each other; to study the conditions of trade, and the best points for the establishment of trading posts--"and, in short, not to neglect anything which might contribute to the success or security of later enterprise."
Captain Lewis started from Washington, July, 1803, and was joined by Captain Clark at St. Louis. William R. Lighton says the party at first consisted of twenty-nine members: the two officers, nine young Kentuckians, fourteen soldiers of the regular army, two French watermen, an interpreter and hunter and a negro servant of Captain Clark's. At St. Louis there were sixteen additional recruits--an Indian hunter and interpreter and fifteen boatmen. This brought the
total to forty-five. Of this number only one deserted and one died on the way to the Pacific. The two leaders of the expedition were to be soldiers, sailors, explorers, botanists, chemists, shoemakers, herders, etc. The total amount of money furnished for the expedition was $2,500-"only $87 for the contingencies of a twenty-eight months' journey, more than eight thousand miles in length, with a company of forty-five men, and through a land literally unknown." However, the government, to provide for any contingency that might arise on the way, supplied them with letters of credit. Mr. Jefferson wrote: "As you will be without money, clothes or provisions, you must endeavor to use the credit of the United States to obtain them, for which purpose open letters of credit shall be furnished you authorizing you to draw on the executive of the United States or any of its officers, in any part of the world in which drafts can be disposed of; and to apply with our recommendations to the consuls, agents, merchants or citizens of any nation with which we have intercourse, assuring them in our name that any aid they may furnish you shall be honorably repaid, and on demand. As events transpired, that paragraph was almost ironical. A letter of credit directed to the Man in the Moon would have served quite as well. By the last of October the camp of the Mandams was reached. This was 1,600 miles from St. Louis, and here the company prepared for winter-quarters by building log cabins and fortifications. The Mandams had once been a powerful nation. Lewis and Clark soon established peace with them, and the winter was passed busily but quietly. Game was plentiful, and one of the men setup a blacksmith-shop, where he made a variety of tools and trinkets which he traded to the Indians for corn. Here they were visited by two Indian squaws. One of them, Sacajawea, the "Bird Woman," had been taken prisoner when a child by the Mandams in a war with the Snake Indians. She had been taken to a Mandam village and sold to a Frenchman, who kept her until she was grown and afterwards married her. Sacajawea joined the expedition and was of great service to the leaders in their dealings with the Indians. She led them to the home of her tribe, the Snake Indians, and was again reunited to the friends of her childhood.
In March, 1804, the men began to build boats for the westward journey. The cottonwood was the only lumber that could be gotten. In some way six canoes were made to hang together. From Fort Mandam fourteen of the men returned to St. Louis carrying documents, collections and trophies. Captain Lewis wrote in his journal: "This little fleet, altho' not quite as respectable as those of Columbus or Capt. Cook, was still viewed by us with as much pleasure as those deservedly famed adventurers ever beheld theirs, and I dare say with quite as much anxiety for their safety and preservation. We were now about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles in width, on which the foot of civilized man had never trodden; the good or evil it had in store for us was for experiment yet to determine, and these little vessels contained every article by which we were expected to subsist or defend ourselves. However, as the state of mind in which we are generally gives the coloring to events, when the imagination is suffered to wander into futurity, the picture which now presents itself to me is a most pleasing one, entertaining as I do the most confident hope of succeeding in a voyage which had formed a daring project of mine for the last ten years, I could but esteem this moment of our departure as the most happy of my life."
Progress from this point grew increasingly hard; in many places rapids were so numerous that the boats could not be urged with oars, and the men were compelled to walk along the banks and draw the boats with tow lines. Often there was a great scarcity of food. November 7, 1804, the company caught a glimpse of the Pacific. After months of unparalleled perseverance the westward journey was done and the Pacific coast reached. Here they remained until January, 1805, collecting data for a report upon the natural history, ethnology and trade of the coast. Before the end of January plans were being made for the journey home. On July 6 the party re-crossed the Great Divide that separates the Atlantic from the Pacific. Occasionally there was a meeting with a party from St. Louis or elsewhere, exchanging news and gossip. On September 23, the Mississippi was descended and the party arrived at St. Louis at 12 o'clock. Here the guns were fired as a salute to the town.
The people of the United States had generally given them up as lost, but still the President had hopes of their return and received them with great kindness. The undertaking was not one primarily of adventure; it was an exploration in the broadest sense of the word. "And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said it is a
good land which the Lord our God doth give us."
Back
|
