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Having started upstream on the Missouri River from their St. Louis-area camp—where they had been preparing for the expedition since fall 1803—on May 14, William Clark and nearly four dozen other men met up with Meriwether Lewis on May 20.
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On April 7, 1805, Lewis and Clark sent the keelboat back to St. Louis with an extensive collection of zoological, botanical, and ethnological specimens as well as letters, reports, dispatches, and maps.
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On September 23, 1806, after two and a half years, the expedition returned to the city, bringing back a wealth of information about the largely unexplored region, as well as valuable U.S. claims to Oregon Territory.
