Lewis and Clark’s Montana trail

Leader Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, with their Corps of Discovery, left Camp Dubois near St. Louis, Missouri on May 14, 1804, to embark on one of history’s most storied expeditions – the exploration of the northern sector of the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase.

Specifically, Jefferson’s instructions were: "the object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River & such principle stream of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean may offer the most direct & practical water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce."

To quote Roy Appleman in his publication written for the National Park Service: "They carried the destiny as well as the flag of our young Nation westward, from the Mississippi across thousands of miles of mostly unknown land … up the Missouri, over the Rocky Mountains and on to the Pacific. This epic feat not only sparked national pride, but it also fired the imagination of the American people and made them feel for the first time the full sweep of the continent on which they lived."

By RICK AND SUSIE GRAETZ
For The Gazette

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?ts=1&display=rednews/2005/04/17/build/magazine/20-lewis.inc

Great Lewis and Clark Site: http://www.lewis-clark.org/