On behalf of Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, one of Meriwether Lewis’s mentors writes President Thomas Jefferson to discuss new fossil finds and to obtain the latitude and longitude of the Falls of the Missouri.
Gaint Sloth Sculpture (Magalonx) sp.
by Jaap Roos Art
Derived from an original photo © 2021 by Jaap Roos Art. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Latitude and Longitude
Philada. Decr. 5. 1806
Dr Sir [Thomas Jefferson]
Permit me to offer you my most Cordial & Sincere Congratulations on the return of Captains Lewis & Clarke, we have experienced here the most anxious solicitude respecting them, & the greatest Curiosity as to their discoveries—May we beg you to specify (if you think it proper) in your next letter to any of the Society, the general Course of the Missouri, or the latitude & longitude of the falls—
your affectionate friend
C. Wistar Junr.[1]Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4633
Notes
| ↑1 | Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4633 |
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- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
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