N3801

Lewis & Clark Expedition - Bicentennial

Fred's Anecdotal Note

The Trail West

The vast unexplored land west of the Mississippi River was coveted by the British in Canada, the Spanish in Texas and Californiq the French in New Orleanq and the Russians in Alaska. President Thomas Jefferson was determined to secure the land for the United States and to find an all-water route to the Pacific. He decided to send a small military party across the continent and chose Meriwether Lewis to lead it.

Lewis was born in 1774 near the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Superb hunting and deep forests to the west fostered his woodsmanship. Plantation life to the east provided refinement and education in surveying, natural history, and geography. Fellow Virginian Williarm Clark was bom rn 1770. When Lewis was 21, he served under Clark in a company of riflemen sharpshooters, and a lifelong friendship was forged. At 3:30 in the aftemoon of May 2l, 1804, Lewis and Clark "possessing great resolution and in the best of health & spirits" set off from St. Charles, Missouri in a keel boat and two pirogues to the cheers of a crowd on the bank The trail west had begun