The Perilous Path Of Discovery––

Lewis & Clark’s 2,000-Mile Journey West: No Walk In The Park

By Dottie Evans

Imagine a time 200 years ago when our Republic was 30 years young. Of the 17 states, most were aligned north to south along America’s Atlantic coastline. Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee were considered the western frontier, cut off from the eastern states by the Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi River marked the country’s western border, and no one knew what lay between there and the West Coast.

Rumors of savage tribes, woolly mammoths, and volcanoes spewing lava were joined by a vague apprehension that an impenetrable wall of stone –– which would be the Rocky Mountains –– blocked the way through to the Pacific Ocean.

Then the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 opened the door to westward expansion, and President Thomas Jefferson was determined to fill in the geographical blanks across 2,000 miles of unexplored territory that now belonged to the United States. He chose Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to lead the Corps of Discovery.

Two hundred years later, Newtown resident Gordon Williams (among thousands of others) has been drawn into the 200-year-old saga of transcontinental exploration. Mr Williams was born and raised in Montana not far from the route traveled by Lewis and Clark, so he rightly feels a special identity with their story. Now a retired social studies teacher, he is currently president of the Newtown Historical Society. On February 14 he spoke to society members about The Lewis and Clark Expedition that spanned three years from 1803 to 1806.

“The whole marvelous adventure had faded into obscurity, but it has since been resurrected for the bicentennial of the event,” he said.

Lewis and Clark’s “Voyage” of Discovery, co-called because the explorers rode the rivers on their way west, was officially launched when President Thomas Jefferson asked Lewis and Clark to find an all-water route to the Pacific Northwest. While they were at it, he said they should bring back as much information as possible about the plants, animals, rivers, mountains, minerals, and Indian tribes they met along the way.

What they sent back (by couriers) and ultimately delivered to President Jefferson were detailed maps and journal entries about the territory, actual botanical and animal specimens, drawings and descriptions of flora and fauna never before seen or heard of, as well as tales describing their experiences with the more than 50 separate Indian nations they encountered.

As Newtown Historical Society member Patty Graves said, the Corps of Discovery provided “transforming information” about this land and its inhabitants. Over the next several decades, this information would precipitate a mass movement of the country’s population westward. At the same time, the westward expansion would spell eventual doom for most of the Native American population already living there.

Beware Grizzly Bears And Prickly Pears

Taking off from St Charles, Mo., in the summer of 1803, Lewis and Clark were “itching to get going,” Mr Williams said.

While poling up the Missouri River, they encountered whirlpools, sandbars, shoals, waterfalls, floating logs, high water, low water, thunderstorms, horrendous heat, clouds of mosquitoes, and charging grizzly bears that would not die despite repeated shots through the chest.

When they camped along the shore or were forced to portage, they were threatened by rattlesnakes and tortured by prickly pear cactus that ripped their moccasins and pants to shreds.

“But they soldiered on,” Mr Williams said.

“Their diet ranged from hominy and lard, to salt pork and flour, to salt pork and corn meal, and back to hominy and lard.”

There were no vegetables or fruits to be had. No wonder they were often struck down with dysentery and gulped down Dr Rush’s renowned “Thunderclapper” pills to relieve their symptoms — which often made matters worse.

The miracle was that all members of the corps returned home alive at the end of the three-year expedition. The one exception was Sergeant Charles Floyd, 20, who came down with an attack of appendicitis in August 1804 and was buried in Iowa.

What could have been fatal run-ins with hostile tribes turned out to be mostly friendly encounters. This was due largely to the curious and helpful nature of the Indians, and to the negotiating skills of the Shoshone woman, Sacagawea, who accompanied them. Kidnapped by Hidutsu Indians, Sacagawea was eventually reunited with her people just before the corps reached the Rocky Mountains, and she was able to secure horses to help them cross the Continental Divide.

 

Seeking The Headwaters

Of The Missouri

During his talk, Mr Williams shared a personal experience related to the arrival of the Corps of Discovery at the source of the Missouri River.

“We had gone to our niece’s wedding in Bozeman, Montana. It was on a Saturday and we were free in the morning. Luckily, the groom was a real history buff, so he took us out to where the three rivers come together to make the Missouri.” [Lewis and Clark named them the Jefferson, the Madison, and the Galletin.]

“There was this modest little marker describing the place –– not very big, pretty low-key,” he recalled.

Having read about the struggles endured by Lewis and Clark and their men while pushing and poling the boats upriver, Mr Williams was profoundly moved at seeing the headwaters himself from the exact place where the explorers once stood.

“It was so exciting…a heart-stopping experience. I could see the three rivers flowing together, their waters coming from a variety of places –– from melting snows and from tributary rivers,” he said.

On July 27, 1805, Lewis and Clark reached the three forks of the Missouri and they were equally moved –– especially since they (erroneously) expected that the main branch, the Jefferson, would lead them directly through the mountains to the Pacific Ocean beyond.

“They all have great velocity and throw out large bodies of water,” wrote Captain Lewis in his journal entry for that date.

Not long after, Captain Clark gained his first view of the Rocky Mountains, and he wrote in his characteristically hopeful way that he would “look for a good comfortable road [ahead] until I am compelled to believe differently.”

That the over-mountain portage to the waters of the Columbia River would not be the simple matter Clark had hoped for.

Next Week: Selected Journal Entries from February 25 to April 10, 1805