It only took them around six months for the return journey. The Corps of Discovery stayed that winter near the ocean and started home again in March of 1806. Louis, they finally reached the Pacific Ocean in November 1805. Frostbite was the most common medical problem.Ī year and a half after leaving St. Many in the group suffered from illnesses and injuries, but none were fatal. Only one man died during the expedition, Sergeant Charles Floyd who died of a ruptured appendix. They also chronicled their expedition in journals, and made 140 maps of the regions. They discovered 178 plant species, 122 animal species, and documented 50 Indian tribes, 24 of which had never seen a white man. They made careful observations, sketching diagrams of plants and animals and recording what they gathered.
The explorers traveled as few as 5 and as many as 20 miles a day – a distance of 14 miles a day was considered good – with Clark often staying in a boat and Lewis walking along the shore.
Walking to an old homestead on the Missouri River. Montana is where they saw more grizzly bears than other humans gorged themselves on buffalo meat (9 pounds a man per day) ran out of whiskey were battered to the ground by hailstones wore out a pair of moccasins every two days crossing the rugged terrain sweltered in 90 degree heat and beheld their first snow in midsummer. The Corps of Discovery covered more miles within Montana than in any other state. WHERE: No place claims more of the Lewis and Clark trail than Montana. They were traveling against the current, so they had to use long poles to push the boats or even ropes to pull the boats from the banks. HOW: They traveled up the Missouri River with one large boat called a barge and two smaller boats called “pirogues”. WHEN: Lewis and Clark officially embarked on their expedition in Pittsburgh on August 31,1803 but didn’t actually set off until when they launched their vessels at the mouth of the Missouri River near the city of St. Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri, you will take careful observations of latitude and longitude, at all remarkable points on the river, and especially at the mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands, and other places and objects distinguished by such natural marks & characters of a durable kind.” “ The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River, and such principal streams of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado, or any other river, may offer the most direct and practicable water-communication across the continent, for the purposes of commerce…. WHAT: In June of 1803, President Thomas Jefferson directed Lewis and Clark: The huge part of the land west of the Mississippi River was completely unknown to Americans and needed to be explored before it could be settled. What was known as Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Canadian border in the north. WHY: With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States purchased approximately 828,000,000 square miles of territory from France. The group of about 40 men, one Indian woman (Sacagawea), one slave and a dog was collectively known as the “Corps of Discovery”. Here are some fun facts about these intrepid explorers journey on the famous “Lewis and Clark Trail”: How’s your history? Know the details about Lewis and Clark’s epic 3 year expedition paddling the Missouri River from St Louis, Missouri all the way to the Pacific Ocean? Coming ashore for the night after a fun day on the river.