-
Louis is sent to Philadelphia to be tutored
by some of the nation’s leading scientists. He also purchases supplies that will be needed on the journey. -
The United States’s purchase of the 820,000-square mile
Louisiana territory from France for $15 million is
announced. Louis leaves Washington the next day. -
Louis construction of a 55-foot keelboat. He and 11 men head
down the Ohio River. -
Louis arrives at Clarksville, across the Ohio River from
present-day Louisville, Kentucky, and soon meets up with Clark. Clark’s African-American slave York and nine men from Kentucky are added to the party. -
Louis and Clark arrive in St. Louis and decide to set up
camp for the winter on the east bank of the Mississippi
River. At Camp Dubois, they recruit more soldiers, train
them, and stock up on supplies. -
The Expedition sets off on its voyage up the Missouri
River in the big keelboat and two smaller pirogues. -
Louis and Clark hold their first council with Indians. They
meet with a group of Oto and Missouri chiefs near present-day
Council Bluffs, Iowa. They hand out peace medals
and other gifts, and Louis delivers a speech. -
The Expedition arrives at the earth-lodge villages of the
Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, near present-day Bismarck,
North Dakota. With 4,500 inhabitants, the villages have a
greater population than St. Louis. -
Louis and Clark select a site across the Missouri River
from the Indian villages and begin construction of
Fort Mandan. -
Louis and Clark sent the keelboat down the Missouri
River with a shipment for President Jefferson.
The “permanent party” of the Expedition departs Fort Mandan. -
Louis sees the Rocky Mountains for the first time.
-
Louis, scouting ahead of the main party, encounters the
Great Falls of the Missouri River. -
The Expedition begins to prepare for the difficult,
18-mile portage around the Great Falls, a series of
five waterfalls. -
The shipment from Fort Mandan arrives at the President’s
House in Washington. Louis ascends the Lemhi Pass and looks west from the summit, only to see more mountains. -
The Expedition ascends into the Bitterroot Mountains, with Shoshone guide Old Toby leading the way.
-
Clark writes in his journal that the Expedition is within
sight of the ocean. Actually, the explorers are still 20
miles from the Pacific coast. -
A vote is taken on where to spend the winter, every
member of the party participates. The explorers set up their winter encampment, Fort Clatsop, south of the Columbia River. -
The Expedition leaves Fort Clatsop and begins its
homeward journey. They give the Fort to Coboway,
a Clatsop chief. -
