The United States nearly doubled in size with the Louisiana Purchase. The staggering purchase price of fifteen million dollars was actually a bargain, as it amounted to about four cents per acre. Once the purchase was finalized, the next question was: what did the United States actually buy? President Thomas Jefferson tasked Meriwether Lewis with exploring the land west of the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis chose William Clark as his co-leader. The Corps of Discovery set off from Camp Dubois, outside of St. Louis, Missouri, on May 14, 1804. It would be two years before they returned.
The company endured many hardships. There was a tense encounter with the Teton Sioux near what is now Pierre, South Dakota. They left their mark in North Dakota when they constructed Fort Mandan as a winter encampment. Setting out in the spring, they relied on guidance from Native Americans and fur traders to find their way. The trip was grueling; it took over a month to portage their gear eighteen miles around the Great Falls in what is now Montana. They got lost in the snow and almost starved until they were taken in by the Nez Perce Indians. They paddled their dugout canoes down the treacherous Columbia River.
On this date in 1805, Clark recorded the “great joy in camp” as the company thought they were in sight of the Pacific Ocean at last. Clark wrote of the “roaring or noise made by the waves breaking on the rocky shores.” To their dismay, the members of the company were not looking at the Pacific Ocean; they were looking at a small estuary twenty miles away from it. It took them another two weeks to finally stand on the ocean shore.
After a cold winter in camp, the company set out to return to civilization. They arrived in St. Louis in September 1806 and were welcomed as heroes. The expedition opened the door for westward expansion but also had unforeseen consequences. The land purchased by the United States was inhabited by thousands of Native Americans belonging to dozens of tribes. As more and more people from the East made their way into what they saw as uninhabited areas, they displaced those who were already living there. The federal government forced the tribes onto reservations. The Lewis and Clark expedition ultimately set off decades of conflict.
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- National Archives. “The Louisiana Purchase (1803). https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/louisiana-purchase-treaty Accessed 10/1/2024.
- History. “Lewis and Clark: A Timeline of the Extraordinary Expedition.” https://www.history.com/news/lewis-clark-timeline-expedition Accessed 10/1/2024.
