While He Was Living
In Paris, As The Representative Of The United States, In 1785-89, He Made
The Acquaintance Of John Ledyard, Of Connecticut, The Well-Known Explorer,
Who Had Then In Mind A Scheme For The Establishment Of A Fur-Trading Post On
The Western Coast Of America.
Mr. Jefferson proposed to Ledyard that the most
feasible route to the coveted fur-bearing lands would be through
The Russian
possessions and downward somewhere near to the latitude of the then unknown
sources of the Missouri River, entering the United States by that route.
This scheme fell through on account of the obstacles thrown in Ledyard's
way by the Russian Government. A few years later, in 1792, Jefferson,
whose mind was apparently fixed on carrying out his project, proposed to
the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia that a subscription should
be opened for the purpose of raising money "to engage some competent person
to explore that region in the opposite direction (from the Pacific coast), -
that is, by ascending the Missouri, crossing the Stony [Rocky] Mountains,
and descending the nearest river to the Pacific." This was the hint from
which originated the famous expedition of Lewis and Clark.
But the story-teller should not forget to mention that hardy
and adventurous explorer, Jonathan Carver. This man, the son
of a British officer, set out from Boston, in 1766, to explore
the wilderness north of Albany and lying along the southern shore
of the Great Lakes. He was absent two years and seven months,
and in that time he collected a vast amount of useful and
strange information, besides learning the language of the Indians
among whom he lived. He conceived the bold plan of travelling up
a branch of the Missouri (or "Messorie"), till, having discovered
the source of the traditional "Oregon, or River of the West,"
on the western side of the lands that divide the continent,
"he would have sailed down that river to the place where it
is said to empty itself, near the Straits of Anian."
By the Straits of Anian, we are to suppose, were meant some part
of Behring's Straits, separating Asia from the American continent.
Carver's fertile imagination, stimulated by what he knew
of the remote Northwest, pictured that wild region where,
according to a modern poet, "rolls the Oregon and hears no sound
save his own dashing." But Carver died without the sight;
in his later years, he said of those who should follow his lead:
"While their spirits are elated by their success, perhaps they
may bestow some commendations and blessings on the person
who first pointed out to them the way."
Chapter II
Beginning a Long Journey
In 1803, availing himself of a plausible pretext to send out an
exploring expedition, President Jefferson asked Congress to appropriate
a small sum of money ($2,500) for the execution of his purpose.
At that time the cession of the Louisiana Territory had not been completed;
but matters were in train to that end, and before the expedition
was fairly started on its long journey across the continent,
the Territory was formally ceded to the United States.
Meriwether Lewis, a captain in the army, was selected by
Jefferson to lead the expedition. Captain Lewis was a native
of Virginia, and at that time was only twenty-nine years old.
He had been Jefferson's private secretary for two years and was,
of course, familiar with the President's plans and expectations
as these regarded the wonder-land which Lewis was to enter.
It is pleasant to quote here Mr. Jefferson's words concerning
Captain Lewis. In a memoir of that distinguished young officer,
written after his death, Jefferson said: "Of courage undaunted;
possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which
nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction;
careful as a father of those committed to his charge,
yet steady in the maintenance of order and discipline;
intimate with the Indian character, customs and principles;
habituated to the hunting life; guarded, by exact observation
of the vegetables and animals of his own country, against losing
time in the description of objects already possessed;
honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding,
and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should
report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves - with all
these qualifications, as if selected and implanted by nature
in one body for this express purpose, I could have no hesitation
in confiding the enterprise to him."
Before we have finished the story of Meriwether Lewis and his companions,
we shall see that this high praise of the youthful commander
was well deserved.
For a coadjutor and comrade Captain Lewis chose William Clark,[1] also a
native of Virginia, and then about thirty-three years old. Clark, like Lewis,
held a commission in the military service of the United States, and his
appointment as one of the leaders of the expedition with which his name
and that of Lewis will ever be associated, made the two men equal in rank.
Exactly how there could be two captains commanding the same expedition,
both of the same military and actual rank, without jar or quarrel,
we cannot understand; but it is certain that the two young men got on
together harmoniously, and no hint or suspicion of any serious disagreement
between the two captains during their long and arduous service has come
down to us from those distant days.
[1] It is a little singular that Captain Clark's name has been
so persistently misspelled by historians and biographers.
Even in most of the published versions of the story of the Lewis
and Clark expedition, the name of one of the captains is
spelled Clarke. Clark's own signature, of which many are
in existence, is without the final and superfluous vowel;
and the family name, for generations past, does not show it.
As finally organized, the expedition was made up of the two captains
(Lewis and Clark) and twenty-six men. These were nine young men
from Kentucky, who were used to life on the frontier among Indians;
fourteen soldiers of the United States Army, selected from many who
eagerly volunteered their services; two French voyageurs, or watermen,
one of whom was an interpreter of Indian language, and the other
a hunter; and one black man, a servant of Captain Clark.
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