All Over The Small Area Of The United States Then Existed A Deep
Interest In The Proposed Explorations Of The Course And Sources Of The
Missouri River.
The explorers were about to plunge into vast solitudes of
which white people knew less than we know now about the North Polar country.
Wild and extravagant stories of what was to be seen in those trackless
regions were circulated in the States.
For example, it was said that Lewis
and Clark expected to find the mammoth of prehistoric times still living
and wandering in the Upper Missouri region; and it was commonly reported
that somewhere, a thousand miles or so up the river, was a solid mountain
of rock salt, eighty miles long and forty-five miles wide, destitute of
vegetation and glittering in the sun! These, and other tales like these,
were said to be believed and doted upon by the great Jefferson himself.
The Federalists, or "Feds," as they were called, who hated Jefferson,
pretended to believe that he had invented some of these foolish yarns,
hoping thereby to make his Louisiana purchase more popular in the Republic.
In his last letter to Captain Lewis, which was to reach the explorers
before they started, Jefferson said: "The acquisition of the
country through which you are to pass has inspired the country
generally with a great deal of interest in your enterprise.
The inquiries are perpetual as to your progress. The Feds alone
still treat it as a philosophism, and would rejoice at its failure.
Their bitterness increases with the diminution of their numbers
and despair of a resurrection.
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