Before The
Party Were Brought Together And Their Supplies Collected, The Territory Passed
Under The Jurisdiction Of The United States.
Nevertheless, that jurisdiction
was not immediately acknowledged by the officials who, up to that time,
had been the representatives of the French and Spanish governments.
Part of the territory was transferred from Spain to France and then
from France to the United States.
It was intended that the exploring
party should pass the winter of 1803-4 in St. Louis, then a mere village
which had been commonly known as Pain Court. But the Spanish governor
of the province had not been officially told that the country had been
transferred to the United States, and, after the Spanish manner,
he forbade the passage of the Americans through his jurisdiction.
In those days communication between frontier posts and points lying far
to the eastward of the Mississippi was very difficult; it required six
weeks to carry the mails between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington
to St. Louis; and this was the reason why a treaty, ratified in July,
was not officially heard of in St. Louis as late as December of that year.
The explorers, shut out of Spanish territory, recrossed the Mississippi
and wintered at the mouth of Wood River, just above St. Louis,
on the eastern side of the great river, in United States territory.
As a matter of record, it may be said here that the actual transfer
of the lower part of the territory - commonly known as Orleans - took place
at New Orleans, December 20, 1803, and the transfer of the upper part
was effected at St. Louis, March 10, 1804, before the Lewis and Clark
expedition had started on its long journey to the northwestward.
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