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Lemhi Pass,
where several members of the Corps of Discovery were the
first Americans to cross the Continental Divide
National Park Service photo, courtesy of the Jefferson
National Expansion Memorial National Historic Site |
The National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places,
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, and Lewis and Clark National
Historic Trail, in conjunction with the National Conference
of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO), proudly invite
you to discover the historic places of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition. This expedition, which took place between 1804
and 1806, has been described as the greatest camping trip of
all time, a voyage of high adventure, an exercise in manifest
destiny which carried the American flag overland to the Pacific.
It was all of this and more. This travel itinerary highlights
41 historic places listed in the National Register of Historic
Places and associated with Lewis and Clark. Many of these places
are also part of the National Park Service's Lewis and Clark
National Historic Trail.
Lewis and Clark traveled more than 8,000 miles in less than
two and one-half years, losing only one member of their party,
at a total cost to the American taxpayer of $40,000. The significance
of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was far reaching. It strengthened
the United State's position in the struggle for control of North
America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Lewis and Clark's
trek also inspired explorers, trappers, traders, hunters, adventurers,
prospectors, homesteaders, ranchers, soldiers, businessman and
missionaries to move westward--spurring a century of rapid settlement
which peopled the West with European-Americans and disrupted
the cultures and lifestyles of countless American Indians. Lewis
and Clark contributed to geographical knowledge by determining
the true course of the Upper Missouri River and its major tributaries
while William Clark produced maps of tremendous value to later
explorers. They forever destroyed the dream of a Northwest Passage
(a water route across the continent), but proved the success
of overland travel to the Pacific. They made the first attempt
at a systematic record of the meteorology of the West, and less
successfully attempted to determine the latitude and longitude
of significant geographical points. Through the Expedition's
peaceful cooperation with the American Indian tribes they met,
they compiled the first general survey of life and material
culture of the tribes of the Missouri, Rocky Mountains and the
Northwest coast. Lewis and Clark also made significant additions
to the zoological and botanical knowledge of the continent,
describing at least 120 mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, as
well as almost 200 plant specimens. By any measure of scientific
exploration, the Lewis and Clark Expedition was phenomenally
successful in terms of accomplishing its stated goals, expanding
human knowledge and spurring further curiosity and wonder about
the vast American West.
Great Falls of the
Missouri, one of the many natural challenges faced by the
explorers
National Park Service photo, courtesy of Lewis and Clark
National Historic Trail |
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The expedition began on May 21, 1804, when the Corps of Discovery
departed from St. Charles, Missouri, an
event now commemorated by the Jefferson National
Expansion Memorial. The party crossed the Mississippi River,
and headed up the Missouri. The Corps tried to maintain a pace
of 14 to 20 miles a day, resting at places such as Fort
Atkinson and Spirit Mound. They reached
what is now North Dakota by October of 1804, and set up a winter
camp, Fort Mandan, amidst the Knife River
Indian Villages. It was here that a young Shoshone woman
named Sacagawea, who proved to be an invaluable interpreter
for the explorers, joined the Expedition with her husband and
infant son. In the spring, the Corps of Discovery pushed westward
through Montana country until they encountered the Great
Falls of the Missouri, where they had to carry their boats
over land for almost 20 miles. By mid-September, they were climbing
the arduous Lolo Trail through the Bitterroot
Mountains to Weippe Prairie, where they
arrived exhausted, starving and much in need of the assistance
offered by the friendly Nez Perce Indians.
The Corps continued onward down the Clearwater, Snake and Columbia
rivers and finally reached the Pacific Ocean in mid-November
1805. At the mouth of the Columbia, they built Fort
Clatsop, and settled into winter quarters. They began the
return trip March 23, 1806, and stayed again with the Nez Perce
waiting for the winter snows to melt on the Lolo Trail. After
stopping at Traveler's Rest, Lewis and
Clark split the men into two groups in order to explore more
of the territory. Lewis and three of the men headed north to
explore the Marias River, during which the expedition suffered
its only hostile encounter with American Indians at Two
Medicine Fight Site. Clark's group generally retraced the
outbound route to the Three Forks of the Missouri
and then overland to the Yellowstone River, which they followed
to its juncture with the Missouri River, where both groups reunited
on August 12th. The explorers finally returned to St. Charles
on September 23, 1806, and were greeted with much fanfare.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition offers several ways to
discover the places that tell the story of the Corps of Discovery.
Each highlighted site features a brief description of the place's
historic significance, color photographs, and public accessibility
information. At the bottom of each page the visitor will find
a navigation bar containing links to six essays that explain
more about Earlier Explorations,
Preparing for the Journey, The
Journey, American Indians, Scientific
Encounters and The Trail Today.
These essays provide historic background, or "contexts," for
the places included in the itinerary. In the Learn
More section, the itinerary links to regional and local
web sites that provide visitors with information regarding special
activities and cultural events taking place during the bicentennial
celebration of the Expedition, as well as lodging and dining
possibilities. The itinerary can be viewed online, or printed
out if you plan to visit any of the places in this Lewis and
Clark travel itinerary in person. Visitors may be intersted
in Historic
Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic
Preservation, located near the places featured in this itinerary.
Created through a partnership between the National Park Service's
National Register of Historic Places, Jefferson National Expansion
Memorial, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and NCSHPO,
the Lewis and Clark Expedition is the latest example
of a new and exciting cooperative project. As part of the Department
of the Interior's strategy to promote public awareness of history
and encourage tourists to visit historic places throughout the
nation, the National Register of Historic Places is cooperating
with communities, regions, and Heritage Areas throughout the
United States to create online travel itineraries. Using places
nominated by State, Federal and Tribal Historic Preservation
Offices and listed in the National Register of Historic Places,
the itineraries help potential visitors plan their next trip
by highlighting the amazing diversity of this country's historic
places and supplying accessibility information for each featured
site. The Lewis and Clark Expedition is the 26th National
Register travel itinerary successfully created through such
partnerships. Additional itineraries will debut online in the
future. The National Register of Historic Places hopes you enjoy
this virtual travel itinerary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
If you have any comments or questions, please just click on
the provided e-mail address, "comments or questions" located
at the bottom of each page.
A Special Note about the Journal
Citations:
Excerpts from the original journals of Lewis and Clark are included
throughout the text of this itinerary. Sources for these journal
excerpts are noted in parantheses directly after the citations.
The full citation for these sources are found in the Bibliography
on our Learn More page.
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