Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West

Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West

Did you know that Lewis and Clark led one of the most famous exploring expeditions ever? Well I kind of did I just did not know how it all went down until I saw this National Geographic movie about them. So here is what I have learned from them and by you reading this I hope you learn from what I am telling you. So let's begin with when they started.

President Thomas Jefferson wanted to learn more about the land west of the Mississippi River. The U.S had just purchased a huge piece of land from the French. This land became known as the Louisiana Purchase, and the land stretched from the Mississippi River all the way to the Pacific Ocean. No Americans had explored that area yet. President Jefferson chose Meriwether Lewis to lead the expedition.

In 1804 on May 14 the famous expedition to the west began. They took canoes and a group of about 30 to 40 volunteers along the Missouri River to the west. Along the trip they met an Indian named Sacagawea, who served as an interpreter for Lewis and Clark. She was 16 years old and she was also pregnant. During their expedition they met many Indian tribes and greeted them with peace by giving gifts.

Since there were no telephones or telegraphs, Lewis and Clark had to write a description of what they saw and then send messengers back to Jefferson. The descriptions had to be kept from getting damaged because if the writings got wet the ink would blur. To keep them safe they put the descriptions in bottles. They did not go over this in the movie I did some reading online before I did this paper.

One famous part of the expedition was at the Three Forks. Clark took one part of the expedition down the one fork and Lewis the other. In autumn of 1805 the expedition arrived at the west coast and Lewis and Clark were the first Americans to see the Pacific Ocean. The expedition returned to St. Louis on September 20, 1806.

They were away for over two years and traveled thousands of miles through very dangerous and difficult conditions, but only one of the expedition members died. The trip was considered a great success because of all the knowledge about the West that Lewis and Clark brought back with them. It was the beginning of the American westward movement. Pioneers began to settle the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific coast. Lewis and Clark became national heroes.

Unfortunately, the stress and strain of the journey was hard for Lewis to handle. He never wrote the formal report of his experiences that he had promised President Jefferson, and he died three years later in 1809. Clark held up better and lived a productive life until his death in 1838.

Well that is all I have to say about Lewis and Clark. So did you know that Lewis and Clark led one of the most famous exploring expeditions ever? I hope you do because you just read this and that is sad if you didn't