The Louisiana Purchase Lewis and Clark

The Louisiana Purchase 1803: United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million Stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border Contained all or parts of fifteen present-day states Doubled the size of the United States

Lewis and Clark President Thomas Jefferson wanted his secretary, Meriwether Lewis to search for a river route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean (Northwest Passage) Lewis asked William Clark to help plan and lead the expedition Lewis and Clark formed a team called the Corps of Discovery Corps explored the western United States from 1804 to 1806

". . . the object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, and such principal streams of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river, may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce . . ."

The Expedition Began on May 14, 1804 at Camp Wood River, or Camp Dubois, north of St. Louis, Missouri Traveled north up the Missouri River in a keelboat Reached the Mandan-Hidatsa villages of present-day North Dakota by October Allowed the explorers to build a small fort called Fort Mandan where they lived through the winter 1805: Hired French fur trader, Toussaint Charbonneau, and his wife, Sacagawea, to help with the expedition

Sacagawea Shoshone Indian who was kidnapped by the Hidatsa as a child Translated for the Corps Negotiated for horses and supplies Served as a peacemaker

Great Falls of the Missouri River The Expedition Struggled around the Great Falls of the Missouri River Searched for a pass over the Continental Divide, a mountain ridge that divides the flow of water into east and west directions Found there was no direct water passage to the Pacific Ocean Great Falls of the Missouri River

Split up to explore more land in Montana Near the Idaho-Washington border, the Corps built canoes and traveled down the Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia Rivers November 1805: reached the Pacific Ocean and built a winter camp called Fort Clatsop on the Oregon coast—returned east the following spring Split up to explore more land in Montana Lewis traveled along the Missouri River Clark traveled along the Yellowstone River Returned to St. Louis in September, 1806

Lewis and Clark on the Columbia River

Outcome of the Expedition Explorers’ journals, maps, plant and animal samples, and notes about Native American groups offered valuable information about the Louisiana Territory The Corps established peaceful relationships with some of the Native American groups, making it easier for future explorers Opened the West for future exploration and settlement