A speech never given
by Joseph A. Mussulman
While stinging from having so many of his horses stolen, Clark wrote a speech to the Crow Indians imploring them to return the booty. After all, he needed those horses to complete the captain’s bold diplomatic plan.
Nineteenth century tools and methods utilized engraving, lithography, the physiognotrace, and early photography processes. The artists themselves, interpreted the Lewis and Clark Expedition within the historical frameworks of their times.
Aerial photographer Jim Wark and scholar Joseph A. Mussulman offer a fascinating new perspective on the Corps of Discovery’s historic journey. From Monticello in the east to Fort Clatsop on the Pacific Ocean, the entire 2004 book is provided online with updates by Mussulman.
In the fall of 1804, Larocque’s job was to take a supply of North West Company merchandise to the Mandan and Hidatsa villages and trade for furs. While there, he asked the captains if he could join the expedition.
A matter of melanins?
by David J. Peck, Joseph A. Mussulman
There may have been one good personal reason why Clark carried an umbrella. Beneath our skins we’re all supposed to be pretty much alike, but at the epidermal level there are some conspicuous differences that we owe to melanin.
Four portraits and one statue by five different artists show a diverse interpretation of the likeness of William Clark.
Ironic juxtaposition
by Charles F. Reed, Joseph A. Mussulman
The irony inherent in the juxtaposition of the A.M.E. Church’s prime sanctuary as a symbol of fellowship and hope, with the Walnut Street Gaol (jail) as a place of isolation and despair, would not have been lost on any black person or white abolitionist.
The author proposes a few metaphors for the Lewis and Clark story, not in any definitive way, but merely to help us all think about the legacy of the expedition.
Sheheke and his wife, Yellow Corn, would visit Washington City at the request of the captains. It would be years before they could safely be returned to their people.
The American Surveyor General
by Nancy Davis
Ellicott was one of the best surveyors of his time, renowned today for the accuracy of his work. He was appointed Surveyor General of the United States in 1792. Ellicott’s personal history was particularly applicable to the mission at hand.
Lewis's closest call
by Joseph A. Mussulman
The most serious hunting mishap, and surely the most memorable episode in Lewis’s frequently referenced “chapter of accedents,” was the moment on 11 August 1806 when Pierre Cruzatte shot him in the buttocks.
A "sadly interesting passage"
by Joseph A. Mussulman
It has been remembered as “the most gloomy self-examination of the entire journal,” and “a passage of unreasonable melancholy,” of poignant sadness and self-doubt.
As the President’s private secretary, the 28-year-old Army captain wasn’t in the same league with the political heavy-weights on the new American Board of Agriculture.
Lewis’s meteoric progress through the first three degrees of Masonry signified confidence on the part of the most prominent men of Albemarle that the 23-year-old Lewis was similarly destined for moral, civic, and political leadership.
Education for the young gentleman
by Joseph A. Mussulman
Land management introduced the pupil to the practical aspects of natural history. Jefferson recalled Lewis’s “talent for observation, which had led him to an accurate knowledge of the plants and animals of his own country, would have distinguished him as a farmer.”
Salmon as encountered by the Lewis and Clark Expedition and used by Native Americans are presented here along with eulachon, turtles, and rattlesnakes.
The main attraction
by Joseph A. Mussulman
The Corps of Discovery arrived in the vicinity on 20 October 1804, having worked their way some 1,450 miles up the Missouri in 155 days. That day, wildlife was the main attraction.
Change of heart
by Joseph A. Mussulman
On the evening of 25 September 1804 after a negative encounter with the Lakota Sioux, the Corps camped on a nearby island Clark called “bad humered Island.” The next morning, the Indians had a change of heart.
At The Dalles lived Upper Chinookan people, the Wishrams on the Columbia’s north (Washington) side—and their allies the Wascos on the south (Oregon) side—who were the main masters of the regional trading center. The Lewis and Clark Expedition encamped on the north side.
Early in 1806 while wintering at Fort Clatsop, the last candles burned down, and Lewis described how they would make new candles out of tallow rendered from elk fat. This is the process.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
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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).