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A detailed sketch of the Great Bend of the Missouri, Knife, and Little Missouri rivers drawn by David Thompson or based on his surveys of the Upper Missouri in early 1798 and copied by Lewis for the first leg of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Thompson was a British astronomer and surveyor employed by the North West Company. Trained to undertake scientific instrumental surveys, he mapped a large part of the American northwest with detailed accuracy. A notation in Jefferson's handwriting provides information on the latitude and longitude of the great bend of the Missouri: "Bend of the Missouri, Long. 101 25' - Lat. 47 32' by Mr. Thompson, astronomer to the N.W. Company in 1798." Thompson's map shows the number of warriors, houses, and tents of the Mandan and the Pawnee Indian villages in the vicinity of the junction of the missouri and Knife rivers, and the overland trail to the Souris River.
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