Jefferson's First Emissary to the West
by Carolyn Gilman
Jefferson put in George Clark’s hands the creation of an entire military infrastructure to defend the West. Clark was asked to whip together all the administrative structure of an army: quartermasters, commissaries, artificers, officers, and even washerwomen to keep the men uniformed, armed, disciplined, and fed.
Four attempts to stop the expedition
by Dan Sturdevant, Jay H. Buckley
“…it is surprising how close the Spanish came to intercepting Lewis and Clark, in 1804, and again in 1806. A matter of several days’ march… prevented an encounter that could have resulted in a major incident between the two nations.”
Lewis and Clark under cover
by Arlen J. Large
During the planning and preparations for the Western Expedition, Thomas Jefferson practiced selective levels of secrecy.
Preliminary outpost
Archaeological investigations by the author and his students reveal the location of the American Fort Kaskaskia. Extracts from “Bound to the Western Waters: Searching for Lewis and Clark at Fort Kaskaskia, Illinois” by the lead archaeologist.
By Yellowstone Public Radio
Originally aired by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial observance in 2004-2006, these 627 episodes parallel the expedition dates starting 14 May 1804 and ending 25 September 1806.
Councils, feasts, trades, dances, camp followers, stolen property,and sometimes disagreements are just some of the occasions—some successful, some not—requiring diplomatic skill. Presented here is a select sample of those encounters.
Several languages were needed to communicate with the many peoples between St. Louis and the Pacific. At times, long translation chains involving several interpreters were used.
Short tempers and long knives
by Jay H. Buckley
Next to grizzly bears and Mother Nature, the most feared enemy of American fur trappers traveling along the upper Missouri River were the Niitsítapi or Blackfeet, the “Original People” or “Prairie People.” Was that Lewis’s fault?
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1864, Charles M. (“Charlie”) Russell arrived in Montana as a 16-year-old youth, intent on fulfilling his dream of becoming a real, working cowboy. Lewis and Clark Meeting the Flatheads, painted in 1912, is Russell’s largest work.
Mathews’ reputation still falls somewhat short of greatness in the regard of art historians. Nevertheless, his own self-published lithographs of Colorado and Montana have grown more and more valuable as documentaries of Western topography and history, as the decades have passed. Several of his lithographs are featured on this site.
The photographer's preface
by Jim Wark
Jim Wark’s aerial photography is used extensively on this site to illustrate the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Written in his own words.
Milky blend
by Joseph A. Mussulman
“from the colour of it’s water we called it Milk river.” He wondered whether this might be the river the Hidatsas had called “the river which scoalds at all others.”
On 19 July 1806 Lewis intersected the Marias River six miles above the point where he had ended his exploration of its lower reaches the previous spring. He and his party now continued northwest along the Marias reaching its most northern point.
Third gap
by Joseph A. Mussulman
On the first of August 1805, Clark and the expedition’s flotilla of eight dugout canoes pushed up the Jefferson River through “a verrey high mountain which jutted its tremendious Clifts on either Side for 9 Miles, the rocks ragide.”
They were “certainly the most gigantic men we have ever seen,” Jefferson wrote on 12 July 1804. A dozen Osage men and two boys had arrived in Washington City the previous day, escorted by Pierre Chouteau.
America's forgotten statesman
To help the Lewis and Clark expedition, Gallatin asked Nicholas King to prepare a new map of western North America incorporating the main features of nine of the most recent maps by other explorers.
Fur, oil, and wheat
Lewis’s two trips on the Marias River were in an area called by early Montana pioneers the golden triangle consisting of fur, oil, water, wheat, and dinosaur bones.
An "accedental interview"
by Joseph A. Mussulman
The Indians invited the Americans to share a campsite that night. At daybreak, despite the soldiers’ watchfulness, the Indians tried to steal the Americans’ guns and horses. That immediately erupted into a skirmish.
Through the "Battle Hills"
Meriwether Lewis has tempted fate and his “chapter of accidents” again by re-entering the domain of the people he had repeatedly been advised to steer clear of—the Blackfeet, Siksikas, Atsinas, and Assiniboines.
An interview with an elder
by W. Otis Halfmoon
We call ourselves Ni-mee-poo, which means “The People.” We also call ourselves Tsoopnitpeloo, and Tsoopnitpeloo means “The Walking-Out People”—people from the mountains come to the plains, to hunt buffalo.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
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).