Jefferson River Canoe Trail Map 1– Upper Jefferson

It was an eclectic group, with the two captains, the war would weaken both sides, allowing the French war. However, Americans also felt threatened with Congress from overseas, so the American negotiators tributaries of the Missouri and west to the continental at the mouth of the Wood River and spent the rest near today’s City, Iowa. Sergeant Floyd was the the , where Lewis and Clark would need Clark’s slave York, the teenage Indian woman to expand their own hold on the American interior. France on its western frontier and in control of the agreed to the deal and sought approval for it divide—boundaries that no known Westerner had of the winter hiring men and buying supplies with an only member of the Corps of Discover to die on the to trade for horses to get the expedition over the Lewis & Clark on the Jefferson River with her infant son, and Lewis’ dog But when the war ended and the port of New Orleans. President afterwards. With the agreement in place, Napoleon ever seen. open-ended letter of credit from President Jefferson. expedition. continental divide to the waters that ran down to the By Thomas J. Elpel, Jefferson River Chapter LCTHF Seaman, plus numerous soldiers, hunters, boatmen, founded, England gave the U.S. the upper Mississippi threatened to rejoin England against France, but at announced, “This accession of territory affirms Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Originally envisioned as a company of about a dozen Lewis and Clark reached the Mandan villages in Pacific. and French trappers. Their adventures became one of basin to prevent expansion by European rivals. The the same time suggested buying New Orleans from forever the power of the United States, and I have just , to lead the expedition. Lewis soldiers, the crew grew to more than forty-five men today’s North Dakota on October 26th. They built Sacagawea had been captured by the Minitari the world’s greatest exploration stories, documented new United States was suddenly twice its former size, France to guarantee the passage of commerce down given England a maritime rival that sooner or later will invited former army buddy, , along as by the time they left Saint Louis on May 22nd, 1804. their own three miles downriver to wait () Indians four years earlier. Now sixteen, Little was known about North America west of the During 1804 and 1805 the Corps of Discovery, through the journals of Lewis and Clark and their men. and settlers were already bumping up against the the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Congress lay low her pride.” co-captain, a rank that was never approved by the Lewis named it the Corps of Discovery. out the winter. Through the winter Lewis and Clark she was pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy, Jean Mississippi at the beginning of the 1800s. The Missouri commanded by co-captains Meriwether Lewis and Louisiana Territory. The territory was temporarily gave its approval to offer Napoleon $2 million for the War Department. But the captains never told their They spent 1804 paddling, poling, and towing interviewed the Indians to learn everything they could Baptiste Charbonneau, born February 11th, 1805. River flowed east, merging with the Mississippi en- William Clark, traveled more than 4,000 miles by foot, The controlled by Spain, but the Spanish lacked money purchase, with the flexibility to spend up to $9,375,000 From Saint Louis to the Mandans men, and they apparently served as co-captains their boats slowly up the Missouri River, while also about the country upstream. They hunted together, Sacagawea and her infant son made the entire journey route to the Gulf of Mexico, while the Columbia flowed canoe and horseback, from St. Louis up the Missouri England, France, and Spain had competing and manpower to defend it from American expansion. if necessary. However, instead of accepting the $2 Planning for the Lewis and Clark expedition throughout the expedition. making maps, documenting new species, and meeting celebrated, danced, and played games. They hired a to the Pacific Ocean and back with the expedition and west from a similar latitude and spilled into the Pacific River, across the and down the claims on the American interior throughout the 1700s, Thus, Spain transfered it to Napoleon Bonaparte in million offer, Napoleon counter-offered to sell the began prior to the Louisiana Purchase, but the deal Lewis and Clark arrived in Saint Louis in December with Indian tribes along the way. On August 19th French Canadian fur trader, , proved invaluable along the way. Ocean. It was hoped that there might be a navigable Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. The following year a competition that ultimately helped the United States 1800, believing the French could defend it. entire Louisiana Territory for $15 million, doubling greatly elevated the need for exploration. The new 1803 with a fifty-five foot keelboat armed with a swivel Sergeant Charles Floyd suddenly fell ill and died as an interpreter for the expedition, but the primary The expedition’s fifty-five foot keelboat was too water route with a low portage connecting these two they retraced their steps and explored some new side gain her freedom and her size. France and Spain aided Napoleon hoped to isolate England, and again the size of the United States. There was no territory included the western half of the Mississippi gun, plus two smaller six-man boats called pirogues, the following day of what is believed to have been a benefit for the expedition was his wife large to continue upriver, so the men cut six large rivers to facilitate commerce across the continent. routes on their return journey home. the colonists in the American Revolution, believing that Americans still resented England from the recent way to communicate efficiently with the President or drainage from the Gulf of Mexico to the northernmost and part of their crew. They built an encampment ruptured appendix. He was buried on Floyd’s Bluff Sacagawea. Her people lived at the headwaters of cottonwood trees and (Continued on Map 2...)