Map of Lewis and Clark Journey

In the spring of 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, with about 45 men, set out on their historic journey from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. The first part of the journey was by keelboat, up a short stretch of the Mississippi River, then for hundreds of miles up the unruly, unpredictable Missouri River toward the Rocky Mountains. Progress up the Missouri was difficult and slow. As winter approached, they decided to set up a winter camp among the Mandan Indians. Here they were joined by Sacajawea and her French-Canadian husband, Charbonneau. Sacajawea's son was born during the winter.

The following spring, the party switched to canoes and continued west up an increasingly difficult Missouri River. High in the Rocky Mountain country, they had to abandon their canoes and continue on foot to the continental divide. Later, they were able to trade with Indians for some horses. The Rocky Mountains were terrible for the travelers. Winter was approaching, the mountains were snowy, and food was scarce. They were saved from starvation by Nez Perce Indians in northern Idaho. In dugout canoes, they made the rest of the journey down the Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia rivers to the Pacific Ocean, where they spent another winter.

In the spring of 1806, the party began their journey home. When they returned to St. Louis, they had traveled for more than two years and 8,000 miles---by keelboat, foot, horseback, and canoe. It had been a difficult, dangerous, but exciting experience. They were gone so long, their friends had given them up for dead. However, when they reached St. Louis on September 23, 1806, they were welcomed as heroes, and they have been American heroes ever since.

In spite of the hardships, both Lewis and Clark found time to write in their diaries, faithfully recording the plants, animals, people, landscapes, and events that they saw. Many of the plants and animals they described (and sketched) were new to the Americans, and were not known to science. Their diaries, later made into a book called The Journals of Lewis and Clark, were very important to science, to the United States government, and to Americans interested in going west.

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