Today’s my birthday. More importantly it is that of Meriwether Lewis, he of the Lewis and Clark fame from the 1804-6 expedition of the US West.
In 1801, when Thomas Jefferson became the third President of the United States, 2/3rds of the country's population lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic Ocean. The Mississippi river was our Western border. He wanted to buy from the French and secure access to the Port of New Orleans, strategic as so much of our trade flowed back then on the Mississippi river. Napoleon surprised him – he sold us the entire Louisiana territory (not just what is today’s state) for a song. 827,000 square miles for $ 15 million.
With the land mass now doubled, Jefferson tapped his former secretary, Lewis to convene a Corps of Discovery to explore the West. I am sure there were plenty of other reasons, but one was to find the fabled Northwest Passage which could connect Europe to Asia. A quarter century ago Britain had offered a large prize for explorers to discover this route. Captain James Cook, more associated with Hawaii had explored the possibility of that route from Alaska, and other English sailors had done the same from the East. The Spanish, Dutch, French, Russians were not far behind.
Lewis’s instructions were to take the Missouri river upstream to its source, and then hopefully connect to another river heading towards the Pacific. Except that no Westerner had mapped the path. There were other fables that the Corps would encounter woolly mammoths and even a race of Welsh-speaking Indians. It was the early 19th century equivalent of going where no man has gone before.
Lewis was already a budding polymath. He had reached rank of Captain in the US Army by the age of 26. Jefferson had already been impressed with his knowledge of botany, natural history, mineralogy & astronomy. He arranged for Lewis to spend time in Philadelphia to further study with the leading scientists of the day. “Andrew Ellicott taught Lewis map making and surveying. Benjamin Smith Barton tutored Lewis in botany, Robert Patterson in mathematics, Caspar Wistar in anatomy and fossils, and Benjamin Rush in medicine.”
He invited William Clark to join him - Clark had been one of his commanding officers in the Army. They took on the trek some of the best scientific equipment available then “including sextants and octants that could help measure angles to the sun and determine latitude; high-end compasses to assist with measuring angles to various stars; and a fancy watch called a chronometer to help determine longitude . (In fact, at $250, the chronometer was the single most expensive piece of equipment taken on the Expedition). He also bought surveyor’s chains, pocket compasses, artificial horizons (for use in the mountains), and the latest almanacs and mathematical tables.” They estimated their journey west took 4162 miles over 18 months. They were off by only 40 miles – pretty remarkable for a never-done before trip.
They must have had outstanding diplomatic skills. They had expected to meet Indians but no way had they expected encountering over 50 different Native American tribes. They met along the Plains the Cheyenne, Crow, Mandan, Osage and Sioux. Around the Rockies they encountered the Blackfeet, Flathead, Nez Perce, Shoshone, Spokane, and Yakima. Closer to the Pacific they met the Chinook, Clatsop, and the Tiliamook. Imagine the communication challenges they faced not knowing whether each tribe would be hostile or hospitable. Fortunately they took an ample supply of Jefferson peace medals which showed a pair of clasped hands and a crossed tomahawk and peace pipe. And an arsenal of weapons they ended up not using much.
On the trek, they encountered and documented 178 plants and 122 animals previously unknown to (Western) science. A few species like Lewis’ Woodpecker are now named after him. They preserved hundreds of plant species and animal and bird skins and skeletons and brought them back to Washington. He would qualify as a biologist and a zoologist today. After he returned he took on several public administration roles.
Three things I really admire about the man, who died at 35 under mysterious circumstances
a) On the return journey, the team had to decide on one of 3 locations to camp for the winter. Every person in the team was allowed to vote including York, Clark’s black slave and Sacagawea, the Shoshone wife of one of the team members. This was 1805 and most likely it was the first time in US history that a slave and woman were allowed to vote.
b) As a dog lover, I like the fact that he took Seaman, a Newfoundland dog known for its strong swimming capability in icy waters on the journey. During the journey, he rescued Seaman by performing surgery after a nasty beaver bite, and later threatened to set an Indian village on fire when they stole Seaman. Seaman in turn is said to have continued to be extremely faithful to Captain Lewis and may have “pined away and died with grief upon his master’s grave”
c) The man was humble. On his 31st birthday, he made a note in his journal “I reflected that I had as yet done but little, very little indeed, to further the hapiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation.” Here is the first Western man to stand atop the Continental Divide, to document so many new species, to map out routes which wave after wave of others would follow on the Oregon Trail (many as mountain men and missionaries), on the Mormon migration to Utah and on the California Gold Rush of 1849.
Done but little? I don’t think so. Not his amazing pathfinder and polymath.
There are plenty of resources which honor that remarkable moonshot including:
A set of audio episodes (averaging 3 1/2 minutes) which describe the day by day progress
An interactive map of the places they stopped both ways
this nice 45 minute documentary
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