While Meriwether Lewis, John Ordway, François Labiche, and the Mandan delegation approach the Cumberland Gap on their way to Washington City, news of the expedition’s return reaches Hartford, Connecticut.
Hartford, Connecticut (c. 1836)
Colorized from the engraving by Fenner Sears & Co. Original drawing by Thomas Cole (1801–1848). Courtesy the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/66d4e1a0-c608-012f-771f-58d385a7bc34 accesed 28 Jan 2026.
The News Reaches Hartford
PHILADELPHIA November 10
More Wonders;—The following extract of a letter is copied from the National Intelligencer. The Rocky mountain sheep [bighorn sheep] beats the horned frog [short-horned lizard] all hollow.
U. S. Gaz. [United States Gazette]
Extract of a letter from a gentleman at St. Charles, to a gentleman in this town dated 23d September 1806.
I have the pleasure to inform you of the arrival of captains Lewis and Clark.
They were the first white people that ever visited that country. By the best accounts they could get, there are about ninety or one hundred thousand inhabitants, (Indians) on the west side of the Rocky Mountains: horses without number. It is thought to be a very poor Indian that did not own 300 horses. Not an iron tool among them. They erected a fort on the sea shore, and engraved their names. They have brought a number of curiosities; among which is a wild sheep: its head and horns weigh about 80 or 90 pounds. He was caught on the Rocky Mountains.[1]Hartford Courant, 19 November 1806, page 2.
Notes
| ↑1 | Hartford Courant, 19 November 1806, page 2. |
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Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Discover More
- 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.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
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