Lewis and Clark met Charbonneau and quickly hired him to serve as interpreter on their expedition. Even though she was pregnant with her first child, Sacagawea was chosen to accompany them on their mission. Lewis and Clark believed that her knowledge of the Shoshone language would help them later in their journey.

Lewis and Clark’s team mapped uncharted land, rivers, and mountains. They brought back journals filled with details about Native American tribes and scientific notes about plants and animals they’d never seen before. They also brought back stories—tales that made other Americans dream about heading west.

Their mission was to explore the unknown territory, establish trade with the Natives and affirm the sovereignty of the United States in the region.

one member

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are best known for their expedition from the Mississippi River to the West Coast and back. The expedition, called the Corps of Discovery, was President Thomas Jefferson’s visionary project to explore the American West. It began in May of 1804 and ended in September 1806.

The expedition opened up new territory for the fur and lumber trade and pointed out the best lands for future settlement and agriculture. It allowed a young country to blossom into greatness, because more land had equated to more resources and therefore, more power. The influence of the expedition is incalculable.

The expedition strengthened the claim of the United States to the Oregon country. After the Lewis and Clark Expedition, a steady flow of American traders traveled up the Missouri River to carry on trade with the Indian tribes. However, the expedition led to great changes for American Indians in North Dakota.

Despite Lewis’ tragic end, his expedition with Clark remains one of America’s most famous. The duo and their crew—with the aid of Sacagawea and other Native Americans—helped strengthen America’s claim to the West and inspired countless other explorers and western pioneers.

20 Oct 1804: Standoff On October 20, 1804, near the Heart River at today’s Mandan, North Dakota, men of the Lewis and Clark Expedition saw their first sign of the grizzly bear. The result was anticlimactic.

According to Indian Arts & Crafts Association member, James Johnson: “Many Indians were scared of the grizzly bear. It is amazing that they hunted the large bears for food, clothing, and [that] the claws were made into necklaces.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the government led campaigns to eradicate bears, wolves and other predators that competed with the livestock industry. Most western states treated bears as varmints, with little or no restrictions on killing them.

Grizzly bears can be seen in several United States regions, which are Washington state, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. During the past, grizzly bears also could be find in other places, such as Ohio, California and even Mexico. Today, grizzly bears live in distant wilderness regions.

It is not normal behaviour for bears to feed on humans, park officials said. “If a bear consumes an individual, it’s not allowed to remain in the population,” park spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said. “It’s not a risk we’re willing to take.”

In Mammals of North America, Vic Cahalane recounts the legendary prowess of the wolverine as fact: immensely strong and known to drive bears and mountain lions off their kills (two or three at a time, even); capable of taking down a bear in a fight; and bad-tempered loners that will destroy a cabin out of sheer …

Toussaint Charbonneau

Camp Dubois

In less than 2 1/2 years, at a total cost to the taxpayer of $40,000, The Corps of Discovery traveled over 8,000 miles. The Lewis and Clark Expedition was phenomenally successful in terms of accomplishing its stated goals, expanding America’s knowledge, and tantalizing curiosity and wonder about the vast American West.

10 Little-Known Facts About the Lewis and Clark Expedition

• Lewis first met Clark after being court-martialed by the Army.
• Lewis had served as Thomas Jefferson’s secretary.
• Thomas Jefferson believed the expedition might encounter wooly mammoths.
• The Spanish sent soldiers to arrest the expedition.
• Clark brought his slave on the journey.

The expedition failed at their main goal of finding an all water route across the continent, they did however succeed in finding new information about the plants, animals, and Native Americans that were in the region so that American knowledge and culture could become greater.

explorer Henry Hudson

History of the Northwest Passage The first to attempt such a voyage was Christopher Columbus in 1492. In 1497, King Henry VII of Britain sent John Cabot to search for what began to be known as the Northwest Passage (as named by the British). All attempts over the next few centuries to find the Northwest Passage failed.

Lewis and Clark also discovered or carefully described for the first time at least seven Great Plains species of mammals, including the pronghorn, grizzly bear, swift fox, black-tailed prairie dog, white-tailed jackrabbit, bushy-tailed woodrat, and mule deer.

Library of Congress. Captain Meriwether Lewis, aged twenty-nine, set off from Pittsburgh by boat at the end of August with a party of men and his Newfoundland dog, Seaman, to begin the first American expedition to the Pacific overland (Andrew Mackenzie had crossed Canada to the Pacific in the 1790s).

What did Lewis and Clark spend most of their time doing? Clark spent most of his time on the keel boat charting the course and making maps while Lewis often ashore studying the rock formations soil animals and plants along the way. Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark who, from 1804 to 1806.

On November 15, 1805, Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Volunteers for Northwestern Discovery reach the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River, one year, six months, and one day after leaving St. By the time they arrived at the ocean, Lewis and Clark knew that the Northwest Passage did not exist.

It was one of the steepest and most exposed trails of the entire journey. “Several horses slipped and rolled down steep hills which hurt them very much,” wrote Clark. “The one which carried my desk and small trunk turned over and rolled down a mountain for 40 yards and lodged against a tree, broke the desk.

Fort Mandan

Missouri Basin and Arkansas-Rio Grande-Texas Gulf Regions On May 14, 1804, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their group of 40 men, collectively known as the Corps of Discovery, launched their pirogues and keelboat onto the Missouri River at its mouth, some 18 miles from the young town of St. Louis.

From the point where the three forks – the Jefferson, Gallatin and Madison rivers – join as one, the great Missouri River begins an odyssey. It had a starring role in the creation of a state. As a route of western expansion, the Missouri River had few equals.

On January 18, 1803, Thomas Jefferson requests funding from Congress to finance the Lewis and Clark expedition. Jefferson officially asked for $2,500 in funding from Congress, though some sources indicate the expedition ultimately cost closer to $50,000.

Less has been written about Meriwether Lewis’ attitude toward slavery, but he too was a slave owner. This included his plantation at Locust Hill in Albemarle County, Virginia (about 1600 acres) and other property, including 24 slaves.