N3843

Lewis & Clark Expedition - Bicentennial

Fred's Anecdotal Note

Animal Discoveries

At journey's end, Meriwether Lewis had discovered and described 122 new species and subspecies of animals as well as 178 new plants. His joumal and field notes are rich with accounts of his finds. On Sept. 7, 1804 in present-day Nebraska, the captains took a walk and discovered a colony of small mammals that lived in connecting tunnels. The new little creatures were prairie dogs. On Sept. 14th Lewis had the rare privilege of examining and describing two species brand new to science. Clark had killed a fleet pronghorn (the men called them fast "goats") and Private Shields had shot a "hare of the prairie." This new species was a white-tailed jackrabbit, and a few days later Lewis searched for a live one. He found his quarry and observed "I measured the leaps of one which I surprised in the plains and found them 21 feet. They appear to run with more ease and to bound with greater agility than any anamal I ever saw."

Whatever the conditions, Lewis remained dedicated to his scientific quest. On Sept. 20, 1805 as the Corps was near completing their arduous and dangerous crossing of the Rockies, despite being cold, hungry, and exhausted Lewis somehow was able to find the energy to work with his joumal. Referring to field noies, he described the varied thrush, Steller's jay, gray jay, black woodpecker (now called Lewis's woodpecker), blue grouse, spruce grouse as well as the mountain huckleberry, Sitka alder, and western red cedar. All of them, except the thrush, were new to science.

These are but a few examples of many such discoveries that Lewis documented during the expedition. Jefferson and Lewis concurred that the Peale Museum in Philadelphia's Independence Hall was the best place for the zoological specimens collected during the joumey. Charles Peale excitedly wrote "I have animals brought from the sea coast...animals totally unknown."