The captains work in St. Louis and Cahokia as the transfer of Upper Louisiana to the United States nears. By this date, they have received President Jefferson‘s instructions to inform the Louisiana Tribes of the right of the United States to make trade agreements with them.
American Beaver (1844)
by John James Audubon (1785–1851)
Lithograph, 21 x 27 in. (53.3 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Estate of Emily Winthrop Miles, 64.98.42, www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/84201.
No other commerce with the Native Americans was more valuable at the time than the fur of the American beaver. See The Fur Trade.
Direct Terms of Commerce
Washington Jan 22. 1804.
Dear Sir
. . . .
Being now become sovereigns of the country, without however any diminution of the Indian rights of occupancy we are authorized to propose to them in direct terms the institution of commerce with them. It will now be proper you should inform those through whose country will pass, or whon you may meet, that their late fathers the Spaniards have agreed to withdraw all their troops . . . .
. . . .
TH. JEFFERSON[1]Jefferson to Lewis. Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 165.
Weather Diary
Therm at rise
weather wind Therm at 4 Oclk weather wind River 4 above 0 fair N W 10 above 0 N W fall 3 in. —Meriwether Lewis and Meriwether Lewis William Clark[2]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.
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.
Plan a trip related to March 6, 1804:
- Winter Camp at Wood River (Camp Dubois)
- Along the Mississippi (Inspiration Trip)
- Around St. Louis (Inspiration Trip)
Winter Camp at Wood River (Camp Dubois) is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site, near Hartford, Illinois, is managed as Lewis and Clark State Historic Site and is open to the public.
Notes
| ↑1 | Jefferson to Lewis. Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 165. |
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| ↑2 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations. |
