At Fort Kaskaskia in the Illinois Territory, Lewis follows President Jefferson‘s instruction by taking celestial observations.
In the Mississippi Territory, Thomas Rodney, who had traveled down the Ohio at the same time as Lewis, reports his arrival.
Polaris
By Eneas De Troya. Permission via the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Jefferson’s Instructions
Washington Nov. 16. 1803.
Dear Sir:
As the boundaries of interior Louisiana are the high lands inclosing all the waters which run into the Missisipi or Missouri directly or indirectly, with a greater breadth on the gulph of Mexico, it becomes interesting to fix with precision by celestial observations the longitude & latitude of the sources of these rivers
TH: JEFFERSON.[1]Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 137.
Kaskaskia Observations
On the Mississippi 3 miles W. of Kasskasskais made the following observations— By Circumpherenter— Azamuth of pole Star 7° 47′ 00″ at 8 h 11 m 45 s P. M. Pr. Chronometer
Moon & Aldeberan W.
Time Distance h m s 10 51 8 60° 57′ 45″ 11 4 52 61 1 0 11 15 5 61 5 0 11 20 50 61 5 15 11 24 4 61 10 0 11 27 7 61 10 45
Defective Mississippi Law
Thomas Rodney, recently appointed as Mississippi territorial judge and land commissioner, writes to President Thomas Jefferson informing him he is now on duty. He had crossed paths with Lewis and the two went down the Ohio River last fall.
Natchez December 2d. 1803.
Dear Sir
It is with great Pleasure that I imbrace This Early Opurtunity by the First Mail after My Arrival To Communicate To you My arrival here in good health yesterday at 5 oClock P.M. . . . We find on forming the Board that the Law Under which we are to Act is defective in some respects which we Mean to Communicate by the Next Mail that the Legislature if they Think proper May remedy by a supplementary Law—Please To permit me to Congratulate you on the general approbation I have heard expressed of Your Conduct through My Travels, and please To Accept Assurance of a Continuance of my very high respect and Esteem . . . .
Your Most Obedient
Thomas Rodney[2]Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-42-02-0071 accessed 7 November 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 42, 16 November 1803–10 … Continue reading
Notes
| ↑1 | Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed., (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 137. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-42-02-0071 accessed 7 November 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 42, 16 November 1803–10 March 1804, ed. James P. McClure. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016, p. 73.] |
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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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