![]() The accomplishments of the Lewis and Clark expedition thus paved the way for the Oregon Trail in the 1830s, the Gold Rush in the 1840s and 50s, and the establishment of the First Transcontinental Railroad and Yellowstone National Park in the 1860s and 70s. In addition, the Corps established relations with more than two dozen Indian tribes, without whose help they could have suffered starvation, disorientation in the endless Rocky Mountain ranges, or a number of other traveling dangers. The expedition succeeded in its objective to reach the Pacific Ocean a year later, mapping the land and recording its flora and fauna along the way. These records would later be presented to Congress as evidence of a successful expedition and would ultimately be preserved in the U.S. Sacagawea helped establish peaceful contact with various Indian nations and, at one point, rescued Lewis and Clark’s journals and records from a boat which had capsized. After being hired as the expedition’s interpreters, Charbonneau and his wives traveled with them for thousands of miles. In November of 1804, the expedition was traveling through North Dakota when they encountered fur-trapper Toussaint Charbonneau and his two wives, one of whom was a Shoshone woman named Sacagawea. Throughout their journey, the expedition distributed Indian Peace Medals–specially prepared silver medals sporting a portrait of President Jefferson–as a symbol of friendship. The Corps traveled along the Missouri River through what is now Missouri, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, and Washington state. Charles, Missouri and embarked on their expedition on May 21, 1804. After extensive training, the group of more than forty men gathered in St. Lewis and Clark recruited healthy, single men with excellent hunting prowess and survival skills to participate in the two-year trek. Lewis would go on to select Second Lieutenant William Clark(e)* as his partner. ![]() With a $2,500 grant from Congress, Jefferson commissioned a group of army volunteers, later known as the Corps of Discovery, appointing his own personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, as the group’s leader. presence in lands occupied by Indian tribes, (3) claiming the Pacific Northwest and Oregon before other Europeans, and (4) recording the resources and geography of the area. ![]() After acquiring the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson proposed the expedition to Congress with the intent of (1) discovering a direct water route to the Pacific Ocean, (2) establishing U.S. In reality, the expedition was a federally funded military project with economic and political goals. ![]() Many people may imagine the Lewis and Clark expedition as a pair of rugged cowboys traversing the American West in pursuit of adventure and a great story. ![]()
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