Just two days after the Western (Lewis and Clark) expedition was funded by the U.S. Congress, President Jefferson announces the planned “voyage of discovery” to French naturalist Bernard Lacépède. Jefferson suggests that they may find mastodons and megalonyxes in both fossil and living forms.
Voyage of Discovery
Washington Feb 24. 1803.
Dear Sir
. . . . .
It happens that we are now actually sending off a small party to explore the Missouri to it’s source, and whatever other river, heading nearest with that, runs into the Western ocean; to enlarge our knolege of the geography of our continent, by adding information of that interesting line of communication across it, and to give us a general view of it’s population, natural history, productions, soil & climate.
Mastodon Herd
Charles R. Knight (1874–1953)
Image is in the public domain. Source: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knight_Mastodon.jpg accessed 3 May 2022.
Many scientists in 1803 expected that live specimens of the animals found in the fossil record would also be found. Extinction was an emerging concept and unproven. See Thoughts on Extinction.
Mammoth Mastodons
It is not improbable that this voyage of discovery will procure us further information of the Mammoth, & of the Megatherium also, mentioned by you . . . .
Megalonyx
[Y]ou have possibly seen in our Philosophical transactions, that, before we had seen the account of that animal by Mr. [Georges] Cuvier, we had found here some remains of an enormous animal incognitum, whom, from the disproportionate length of h[is] claw, we had denominated the Megalonyx . . . .
Living Fossils?
[The Megalonyx] is probably the same animal . . . . [T]here are symptoms of it’s late and present existence. The route we are exploring will perhaps bring us further evidence of it.
I pray you to accept assurances of my great consideration and respect.
Th: Jefferson[1]All excerpts from Jefferson to Bernard Lacépède in Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, … Continue reading
Notes
| ↑1 | All excerpts from Jefferson to Bernard Lacépède in Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 15–16. |
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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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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).