Narrator: President Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin
Rush, February 28, 1803. (VOICE OF JEFFERSON)
Dear Sir, I wish to mention to you in confidence that
I have obtained authority from Congress to undertake the long desired objective of exploring
the Missouri River and whatever river, heading with that, leads into the Western ocean. About
10 chosen woodsmen headed by Capt. Lewis my secretary, will set out on it immediately
& probably accomplish it in two seasons. Capt. Lewis is brave, prudent, habituated to the
woods, and familiar with Indian manners and character. He is not regularly educated but
he possesses a great mass of acute observation on all the subjects of nature which present
themselves. Narrator: When President Thomas Jefferson
wrote this letter to a prominent Philadelphia physician, he was in the midst of the greatest
land deal in history, The Louisiana Purchase. For 15 million dollars, Jefferson had doubled
the size of the United States. His vision for an empire of democracy extending across
a continent was becoming a reality. But the lands to the west were shrouded in mystery.
Jefferson needed information, not only to satisfy his curiosity, but to fulfill the
destiny of his nation. And his instruments of discovery were two exceptional men, Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark. AMBROSE: The Journals of Lewis and Clark are
our national poem. It’s epic. It’s our Iliad and our Odyssey. You can open those
journals anywhere and you start reading those things aloud and it’s just magic. DENNY: These two explorers were given the
mission to take a small band of people into a totally unknown place and travel 8000 miles
to explore this country and they did a magnificent job. No one could have done it better. If
this is not a great story, then we don’t have any great stories.
Narrator: Every American owns a bit of the Lewis and Clark story, but in Missouri we
hold it just a bit tighter. Most of all, this is the story of our river, the Missouri and
what this country was like before the heavy hand of settlement. This is the story of Lewis
and Clark in Missouri. (VOICE OF ORDWAY)
April the 8th, 1804 Honored Parents
I now embrace this opportunity of writing to you once more to let you know where I am
and were I am going. I am well thank God and in high spirits. I am now on an expedition
to the westward with Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clark, who are appointed by the President
of the United States to go on an expedition through the interior parts of North America.
We are to ascend the Missouri River with a boat as far as is navigable and then to go
by land to the western ocean... Narrator: John Ordway wrote these words on
the east bank of the Mississippi looking up into the mouth of the Missouri River and into
the unknown. Jefferson’s 10 chosen woodsmen had swelled to over forty; they called themselves
the Corps of Discovery. As Ordway and the other men prepared for their journey, they
must have reflected on the leaders they were trusting with their lives. Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark; Two men whose bond of friendship created one of our country’s greatest adventures.
Meriwether Lewis was 29 years old. William Clark was four years older. Young men but
experienced, both had served as commissioned officers in the United States Army. Lewis
had served under Clark on the Indiana frontier. Now their roles were reversed. Jefferson had
selected Lewis as his personal secretary. Groomed him, prepared him for this epic journey.
With the mantle of leadership, Lewis turned to a friend, William Clark. (VOICE OF LEWIS)
June 19th, 1803 Dear Clark,
If there is anything in this enterprise which would induce you to participate with me in
its fatigues, it’s dangers, it’s honors, believe me there is no man on earth with whom
I should feel equal pleasure in sharing them as with yourself. With sincere affection and
regard. Your humble servant, Meriwether Lewis. (VOICE OF CLARK)
July 18th, 1803 Dear Lewis
I received by yesterday’s mail your letter of the 19th. The contents of which I received
with much pleasure. This is an undertaking fraught with many difficulties, but my friend
I do assure you that no man lives with whom I would prefer to undertake such a trip as
yourself. With every sincerity and friendship. Your obedient servant. William Clark DENNY: One of the most remarkable things about
the Lewis and Clark Expedition is the sheer fact of joint command. This is something that
is unheard of in military organizations, you don’t have joint commands. I think obviously
the Secretary of War was extremely skeptical about it , because in the end, despite Lewis’s
insistence he didn’t make Clark a co-captain he made him a Lieutenant, and Lewis the captain.
The only people who seemed to be absolutely certain that this was the way their organization
was going to function and this was the way they were going to share command were Lewis
& Clark themselves. In this instance it was the most brilliant partnership, probably in
American history. Narrator: Neither Clark nor Lewis made mention
of Clark's official subordinate status during the journey. To the men of the crew and to
each other they were full partners; equals: Captain’s Lewis & Clark.
It’s Immense, it’s powerful, and in 1804 it was a formidable challenge. As the members
of the expedition looked up into the mouth of the Missouri, they were looking into the
unknown. There were more than 40 men in the Corps of Discovery, in two large pirogues
and a fifty-five foot keelboat heavily laden with supplies. Not only did they face the
enormous challenge of moving this mass of men and material up the river, they were also
to record their impressions. STUCKY: Just reading their journals and the
incredible detail of the awesome fish and wildlife resources, the abundance, the diversity
of these resources just astonishing. And I like to think that the river they encountered
was perhaps akin to the original Garden of Eden. Narrator: So it began, the party set out from
their winter camp on the Mississippi River and into the history books. (VOICE OF CLARK)
May 14, 1804 Set out at 4 o’clock and proceeded up the
Missouri under sail to the first island in the Missouri and camped. Wind from the Northeast.
Men are in high spirits. Narrator: They lingered a few days in St.
Charles. Lewis’s description of the first and only European settlement on the Missouri
echoes the clash of cultures between the old French and their new American administrators. (VOICE OF LEWIS)
May 20th, 1804 The village contains a chapel, one hundred
dwelling houses, and about 450 inhabitants; their houses are generally small and but illy
constructed; a great majority of the inhabitants are miserably poor, illiterate and when at
home excessively lazy, thou they are polite, hospitable and by no means deficient in point
of natural genius. They live in a perfect state of harmony among each other..... (VOICE OF CLARK)
May 21, 1804 Set out from St. Charles at three o’clock
after getting every matter arranged. We proceeded on under a gentle breeze. DUNCAN: The most recurrent phrase in all of
those journals are three simple words “We proceeded on” and I think that was their
way of getting across a broad continent at about twelve miles a day. Each day they woke
up they didn’t know what the day would bring them. They didn't know what was around the
next bend in the river. They didn’t know what was over the next horizon. And they had
to struggle every day. “We proceeded on.” (VOICE OF CLARK)
May 22, 1804 We proceeded on past several small farms on
the bank, and a large creek called Bon Homme. This day we passed several islands, and some
high lands on the starboard side. Very hard water. DUNCAN: Well the lower Missouri in the spring
of 1804, early summer, was a shakedown cruise. They’re learning how to manage that keelboat
against the Missouri’s incredible current, and the sawyers and the snags and overhanging
trees and winds that don’t come at the right time. Just how do you maneuver against this
beast of a river. (VOICE OF CLARK )
May 24, 1804 Set out very early passed a very bad part
of the river called the Devils Raceground. This is where the current set’s against
some projecting rocks.....The swiftness of the current wheeled the boat, broke our tow
rope and was nearly over setting the boat, all hands jumped out on the upper side and
bore on that side. We camped about a mile above where we were so nearly lost. Hard water,
this place the worst I’ve ever saw. I call it the Retrograde Bend. DENNY: After the incident at Retrograde Bend
above Tavern Rock where Captain Clark noted that nothing but...literally a miracle kept
the boat from going down, a similar incident happened just about a couple of weeks later...
where the boat got hung up on some sand and started listing it looked like it was going
to capsize, and Clark says that in an instant, all the men were overboard with a rope and
in another instant they had that keelboat fixed fast and they were out of danger just
within moments. Everyone knew exactly what to do. And Clark at that time said that he
would not trade this group of men for any boatmen on the Mississippi. Narrator: The previous summer, as Lewis was
preparing to leave Washington for his rendezvous with Clark, he wrote about the type of men
he was looking for. (VOICE OF LEWIS)
June 13, 1803 When descending the Ohio it shall be my duty
by enquiry to find out and engage some good hunters, stout, healthy, unmarried men, accustomed
to the woods, and capable of bearing bodily fatigue in a considerable degree.
Narrator: They were young men, in their twenties mostly, hunters from Kentucky, experts with
a long rifle. Boatmen from St. Charles, thoroughly experienced, thoroughly French. There was
a black man, York, owned by Clark as a slave but considered one of the crew on the expedition.
Later in the journey they would be accompanied by an Indian woman and her child. In many
ways, the Corps of Discovery reflected the population of the Western frontier. Together
they mirrored the energy and determination of their newly formed nation. Now the Captains
had a crew they could take to the Pacific. And as the Corps of Discovery set up their
camp on a sand island opposite the Loutre River, near present day Herman, Missouri,
on May 26, 1804, Lewis wrote his orders of detachment. (VOICE OF LEWIS)
May 26, 1804 The commanding officers direct that three
squads under the commands of Sargents Floyd, Ordway and Pryer heretofore forming two messes
each shall until further orders constitute three messes only, the same being altered
and organized as follows… DENNY: The fact that you always have to keep
foremost in your mind is that it was a military expedition. With strict military discipline,
this was not only involved with making camp and setting up guard duty and all those things
but, the functions that they did out on the boat. A person was designated to watch for
creeks, another person was designated to watch for rafts coming down the river with traders.
They had obviously spent a lot of time thinking about the way this organization was going
to click and the way in which these people were going to work together. (VOICE OF CLARK)
JUNE 1st, 1804 Came to the point of the Osage River on the
left side of the Missouri. This Osage River very high. We felled all the trees in the
point to make observations. Sat up until 12 o’clock taking observations this night. AMBROSE: These were men of the enlightenment
and science was the primary objective of one major part of the expedition, the biggest
objective was to find an all water route to the Pacific and to explore the Louisiana territory,
and as important, report, tell us what's out there, tell us about the flora and the fauna,
tell us about what's located where, tell us about the deposits, tell us what grows, tell
us about the climate, tell us about where this lines up in the latitude and longitude
and so on. Narrator: They recorded everything following
Jefferson's instructions to the letter. In particular, Jefferson wanted to know about
the “people inhabiting the line you are to pursue.” They were to, “endeavor to
make themselves acquainted, as far as the diligent pursuit of your journey shall admit,
with the names of their nations and their numbers.” (VOICE OF CLARK)
June 5, 1804 Our scout discovered the fresh sign of about
ten Indians. I expect that those Indians are on their way to war against the Osage nation.
Probably they are Sauk. Passed a projecting rock called the Manitou. From this devil to
the point on the Larboard side north 23 degrees, west 7½ degrees. DENNY: The Manitou Bluffs derive their name
from Native American pictographs of these Manitou figures they’re sort of half human,
half deer. They have antlers projecting from them and they represent the great spirit.
And so these spectacular bluffs must held a special place with the Native Americans
because it’s about the only place that they saw Native American artwork like this painted
along the bluffs. The neat thing about them today is in so many places the river is in
a totally different place than it was back in Lewis and Clark's time but along the Manitou
Bluffs the river is always right along the base of those bluffs. We see the same view
today that Lewis and Clark saw back in 1804. (VOICE OF CLARK)
JUNE 13 Passed some charming land, passing the river
Chariton. Beautiful open prairie comes to the river below its mouth. This is a beautiful
place, the prairie rich and extensive. Narrator: As the expedition passed the Manitou
Bluffs region they began to see prairies, vast seas of grass that were unlike anything
in their experience. The men were stunned. (VOICE OF CLARK)
JUNE 22 We set out and proceeded on under a gentle
breeze from the N. W. Passed some very swift water crowded with snags, immediately opposite
a large and extensive prairie. This prairie is beautiful, a high bottom 1½ miles back. DENNY: The first time that the expedition
encounters prairies must have been a very interesting one for them. They grew up with
the great eastern woodlands. There was the old saying that a squirrel could go all the
way from Virginia to the Mississippi River without every touching the ground because
he was jumping from tree to tree. And the eastern woodlands extended essentially in
here in Missouri. The eastern woodlands start giving way to the prairie environment, and
this was an environment that Americans were very unfamiliar with. Clark seemed to be fascinated
by the prairies he thought they were beautiful, he thought they were interesting.
Narrator: As the party made its way upriver, the quantity of wildlife began to increase.
Clark, a diligent journalist, records every deer taken. The numbers were astounding. A
total of 48 deer were taken by the Corps of Discover during the Missouri leg of their
outbound journey. As they approached the site of Kansas City, it was apparent, even to these
seasoned hunters, that they were entering a region of incredible bounty. (VOICE OF CLARK)
June 24 Captain Lewis killed a deer and Collins 3,
Dryer 2 today, immense number of deer on both sides of the river. (VOICE OF CLARK)
JUNE 25th The prairies come within a short distance
of the river on each side which contains, in addition to plumbs, raspberries and vast
quantities of wild crab apples and wildflowers. great numbers of deer are seen feeding on
young willows and herbage in the banks and on the sand bars on the river. (VOICE OF CLARK)
JUNE 30 Immense numbers of deer on the banks, skipping
in every direction. the party killed nine bucks on the river and the bank today. AMBROSE: They were able to land on the banks
and set up their camps and it was a Garden of Eden. It was so full of life, every kind...
flora and fauna everywhere. The numbers of animals would just be incredible to us today.
Clark said in one place near Kansas City the deer tracks are as common as hog tracks on
a farm. Narrator: They proceeded on. They passed Blue
River, and the mouth of the Kansas. Many of the tributaries had existing names and were
known by the Frenchmen of the crew. Others were given names as the party passed. Biscuit
Creek was named after their breakfast. Tree Frog creek, Diamond Island. On July 4th the
Corps stopped at a place they called Independence Creek, where they celebrated their young country’s
birth by discharging the swivel gun and issuing an extra ration of whiskey to the men. Later
that evening, Clark reflected in his journal on the lands they were passing through. (VOICE OF CLARK)
JULY 4 We camped in the plain, one of the most beautiful
plains I’ve ever seen. Open and beautify diversified with hills and valleys all presenting
themselves to the river. A handsome creek runs through. The plains of this country are
covered with a Leek Green Grass, well calculated for the sweetest and most nourishing hay -- interspersed
with copses of trees spreading their lofty branches over pools, springs, or brooks of
fine water. DUNCAN: One of my favorite passages from Lewis
and Clark is Lewis writing back to his mother in Virginia after he had traveled up the Missouri
River. And he wrote, “This immense river waters one of the fairest portion of the globe.
Nor do I believe there is, in the universe a similar extent of country. I mean he’s
talking both from the heart and as someone who comes from an agricultural upbringing.
He saw as all of them saw, that this was a paradise of sorts that future generations
could build upon and I think he was absolutely right. Narrator: Lewis’ letter to his mother was
written at Fort Mandan in modern day North Dakota where the party wintered; 1,609 miles
from the mouth of the Missouri. Here again they had time to reflect on the country they
had passed through, and to look ahead to the continuation of their great adventure. (VOICE OF LEWIS)
March 31, 1805 Dear Mother, This immense river so far as
we have yet ascended waters one of the fairest portions of the globe, nor do I believe that
there is in the universe a similar extent of country - equally fertile well watered
and intersected by such a number of navigable streams. Game is very abundant, and seems
to increase as we progress. Our prospect for starving is therefore consequently small.
On the lower portion of the Missouri, from its junction with the Mississippi to the entrance
of the Osage River we met with some deer, bear and turkeys; from thence to the Kansas
River the deer were more abundant, a great number of black bear, some turkeys, geese,
swans and ducks. The ice in the Missouri has now nearly disappeared. I shall set out on
my voyage in the course of a few days. The party are now in good health and excellent
spirits are attached to the enterprise and are anxious to proceed. Narrator: On Monday, July 16th, 1804 the Corps
of Discovery moved out of what was to become the state of Missouri and into legend. Ahead
of them were the Great Plains, grizzly bears, those terrible mountains, and the Pacific.
Their time in Missouri was formative. They learned the ways of the river, learned to
work together as a crew. They began the process of diligent reporting and scientific enquiry
that they would continue all the way to the western ocean. Most importantly, they left
a record of a land relatively pristine, untouched by the settlements that were to come. In the
paradise they described we can find a testament to the richness and diversity that this land
can offer. STUCKY- There is something uniquely special
about this river. It’s almost mystical, almost spiritual. It’s my hope that people
will have opportunity to reconnect to this river and in so doing just be captured by
all this river has to offer. Narrator: The Missouri River remains, timeless,
dynamic, ever-changing, everlasting. This great river, our most majestic natural
feature, defines this state: Missouri. And along its banks you can hear the ghosts
of the past whispering in its waters. Indian canoes plied these currents. Mountain men
descended, their boats piled with furs. Steamboats muscled their way upstream, as
did the unceasing tide of western civilization. Two hundred years ago two young men led a
small group of explorers up this river. They were confident, exuberant and utterly
determined, mirroring the hopeful promise of their young nation.
No more fitting monument exists to honor the spirit of Lewis and Clark than the Missouri
River itself. From its banks we can glimpse a bit of the
world they discovered. A pristine continent, a natural paradise filled
with immeasurable bounty. It’s this river that remains the lasting
legacy of Lewis and Clark.
