People / James Mackay

James Mackay

Showing the way

In January 1796, James Mackay of the Commercial Company for the Discovery of the Nations of the Upper Missouri, a Spanish enterprise commonly called the Missouri Company, made a voyage up the Missouri River, accompanied by James Evans (1770-1799). The most important material outcome of their expedition was a remarkably precise and detailed map of the Missouri River from St. Charles to the Mandan villages, which quickly was recognized as the most accurate made up to that time. Mackay, who had turned back at Fort Charles, the trading post he built on the Missouri somewhere between the mouths of the Platte and Niobrara Rivers, drew the final version. It included many of the early French names of the Missouri’s tributaries. Thomas Jefferson sent a copy of it to Meriwether Lewis in 1803. It was one of the most valuable tools the captains had.

 

Related Pages

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    January 10, 1804

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    August 4, 1804

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    June 13, 1805

    "sublimely grand specticle"

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    September 14, 1804

    Pronghorn and jackrabbit

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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.