false 236830 15 In 1803, when the United States purchased Louisiana from France, the great expanse of this new American territory was a blank -- not only on the map but in our knowledge. President Thomas Jefferson keenly understood that the course of the nation's destiny lay westward and that a national "Voyage of Discovery" must be mounted to determine the nature and accessibility of the frontier. He commissioned his young secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead an intelligence-gathering expedition from the Missouri River to the northern Pacific coast and back. From 1804 to 1806, Lewis, accompanied by co-captain William Clark, the Shoshone guide Sacajawea, and thirty-two men, made the first trek across the Louisiana Purchase, mapping the rivers as he went, tracing the principal waterways to the sea, and establishing the American claim to the territories of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. together the captains kept a journal, a richly detailed record of the flora and fauna they sighted, the Indian tribes they encountered, and the awe-inspiring landscape they traversed, from their base camp near present-day St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River. In keeping this record they made an incomparable contribution to the literature of exploration and the writing of natural history. The Journals of Lewis and Clark, writes Bernard DeVoto, was "the first report on the West, on the United States over the hill and beyond the sunset, on the province of the American future. There has never been another so excellent or so influential...It satisfied desire and created desire: the desire of the westering nation." 2761980 book 1905 The Journals of Lewis and Clark (Lewis & Clark Expedition) total:262|5:92|4:79|3:73|2:15|1:3| 262 1028 452 36 4 0 false true Mon Sep 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 13:20:19 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 13:38:25 -0700 2009
Sacajawea steals the show in the early part of the book. These great men really dep...more...]]> 0 1 false false Tue Jan 22 23:33:28 -0800 2008 Sun Oct 07 21:03:39 -0700 2007 Sun Oct 07 21:15:48 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1992 Sat Jun 30 21:19:24 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 30 21:36:52 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1969 Thu Jun 25 12:51:31 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 13:05:14 -0700 2009 Once more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Apr 24 15:08:33 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 15:13:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu Nov 08 01:38:36 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 08 01:53:49 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sat Jul 04 21:29:59 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 04 21:34:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 08 17:46:34 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 17:48:39 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Jan 15 05:26:58 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 26 06:27:49 -0700 2009
Probably the best revelation: the translat...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1995 Sun Oct 21 13:35:43 -0700 2007 Sun Oct 21 13:41:05 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Nov 21 19:45:15 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 21 19:47:37 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Sep 29 14:12:06 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 14:12:46 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1996 Thu Dec 18 16:45:43 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 18 16:45:43 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Sep 05 07:31:40 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 05 08:30:41 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Jul 23 00:58:48 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 12:24:58 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Feb 16 21:04:46 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 16 21:44:35 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 10:13:07 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 16:31:19 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 18 17:21:19 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 09 12:33:24 -0800 2007 0 0 false false Thu Jun 05 06:18:21 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 28 07:00:17 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 08:47:41 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 08:49:34 -0800 2008