The expedition leaves the Falls of the Ohio bound for Fort Massac near the mouth of the Ohio. Clark’s brother, Jonathan, joins them for a short distance. Fellow traveler Thomas Rodney says there is “nothing but wilderness on both sides of the river.”
LOUISVILLE, October 29.
Kentucky Gazette, 1803.
For a transcription, see on this page The News from Louisville.
The News from Louisville
LOUISVILLE, October 29
Capt. Clark and Mr. Lewis left this place on Wednesday last, on the expedition to the Westward. We have not been enabled to ascertain what length this rout will extend, as when it was first set on foot by the President, the Louisiana country was not ceded to the United States, and it is likely it will be considerably extended—they are to receive further instructions at Kahokia. It is, however, certain that they will ascend the main branch of the Mississippi, as far as possible: and it is probable they will then direct their course to the Missouri, and ascend it. They have the iron frame of a boat, intended to be covered with skins, which can, by screws, be formed into one or four, as may best suit their purposes. About 60 men will compose the party.[1]Kentucky Gazette, 8 November 1803.
Into the Wilderness
It is all Indian country on the NW shore and no settlement in view on the Ky. shore; of course nothing but wilderness on both sides of the river.
—Thomas Rodney (19 October 1803)[2]Dwight L. Smith and Ray Swick, ed., A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney’s 1803 Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997), 127.
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