The Journals of Lewis and Clark

by BernardAugustineDeVoto

The Journals of Lewis and Clark [JOURNALS OF LEWIS & CLARK] [Paperback]

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

504 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 1997

Reviews

[Rebecca I · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the abridged version of the records of the journey. It is an account of the incredible journey to explore and map country that had not been travelled by Americans and not often by anyone. At first I found reading it cumbersome because of all the unusual spellings of each of the men who made entries. Also, it is a trip that is into the unknown and therefore always contains an element of danger. Mostly however it can get tedious or too terrible to stand to keep reading. Imagine yourself on a camping trip where you have to make your own clothes and kill your own food while going into the heart of the wilderness. Sometimes I stopped reading because it was so difficult to imagine the hardships that lasted for days and days. The exciting part of it is that it is a true adventure. We have so many things today that could have made the journey more comfortable. These men and one woman had their skills, their wits, and their bravery.
I find the end parts where they come back into civilization and find that news of them has died out and people have suspected that they have died on the trip. It has been years and they have been in touch but word does not travel quickly. It is a truly amazing journey and we reap the benefits of those who first took this exploratory trip to this day.

[Melanie Vidrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of this very interesting event in the early history of United States. The indigenous peoples whom the expedition encountered are treated fairly by the standards of the day, although it is known not to be the case at all times.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

For readers who by virtue of scholarly inclination or location of residence find it important to read or listen to the role of Lewis and Clark in opening up the Pacific Northwest to American influence and eventually control [1], this is a good book, even though the editor notes that it is mainly for the ordinary reader who enjoys reading books of about 500 pages in length and is not a scholarly edition, which contains a great deal of detail that is less interesting. For those readers who wish to know what Lewis & Clark thought about the native people of the Pacific Northwest, especially in Oregon and Washington, the results are less than flattering. The two explorers criticized the thievery of the native peoples, and were also hostile to the rainy weather in the winter, which greatly dispirited them. The explorers also had much to say about the loose and promiscuous ways of the natives and the venereal diseases that they passed on to some of the young men under their command. It seems that Portland and its surrounding areas were sufficiently weird since before the city of Portland was actually founded, so there's that.

This book is not one that most casual readers would take a look at, but it presents a straightforward excerpting of the most important and noteworthy entries from the diaries of Lewis and Clark as well as Biddle, and some other supporting documentation like the letter from Jefferson that authorized the trip and the list of the specimens that the exploring party sent back east for the young country's scientists to subject to scientific scrutiny. As one of the seminal travelogues of American, if not world, literature, the book is organized by the locations the party is traveling through. The book is about halfway done by the time the group gets to Oregon, making its way along the rapids of the Columbia River, and the trip back is much faster than the trip out, even if there were horse thieves and an accidental shooting of Lewis by one of the other members of the party. It is a shock given the nature of the expedition, but the only death was from appendicitis and was soon after the journey got underway. Everyone else survived the trip despite its dangers and despite the unfamiliarity of the country.

This is an immensely important book. For one, Lewis and Clark were nearly perfect as the emissaries of the United States to the nations of the Pacific Northwest who, before too long, would fall under American influence and control. While America was only just beginning to test its strength, having such fair-minded and compassionate emissaries and explorers was of immense benefit, particularly since Lewis and Clark were skilled and observant with regards to geography (although they made some errors and listened to some mistaken rumors that ended up causing trouble for later explorers), and particularly useful as ethnographers of tribes whose doom was almost upon them. There is a sense of tragedy about this book, in that while Lewis and Clark were very thoughtful towards the indigenous people, and particularly solicitous about the natives in their own party, not all of the Americans who would follow the path that they blazed would be equally solicitous and the results would be tragic. Even so, the book itself manages to stand as a reminder of the sort of nobility that American civilization in the early 19th century could possess, even if it was more noble than the general standard of the American people of that time or any time. If it is too large a book to strike the interest of casual readers, the book is rewarding to those who are willing to take the time to follow the trail of Lewis and Clark along the map and to read the fascinating account of their journeys of exploration into the heart of the West along the Missouri and Yellowstone and Columbia River basins. If someone lives along those areas or cares about the expansion of the scientific knowledge, economic dominance, or political control of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific, this is an essential book, well worth a few days of reading.

[1] See, for example:

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[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

ITHE JOURNALS OF AN AMAZING JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY

Editor Bernard DeVoto explains in the Introduction, “Toward the end of November 1802, President Thomas Jefferson asked the Spanish minister a carefully unofficial question: Would the Spanish court ‘take it badly… if the United States should send a small expedition to “explore the course of the Missouri River,” which lay wholly in the still Spanish territory of Louisiana?’… He would … explain the expedition to Spain as ‘a literary pursuit’… solely an effort to add to geographical and scientific knowledge. The expedition would indeed accomplish that end, but… its primary purpose was to investigate a commercial opportunity of very great importance to the United States.” (Pg. xxv)

He notes, “The Louisiana Purchase was one of the most important events in world history… Not only did it double the area of the United States... add to our wealth resources of incalculable value… secure us against foreign victory on any scale conceivable in the nineteenth century---it also provided the … unifying force that would hold the nation firm against disruptive forces from within… And there is … no subsequent event in the main course of our history that it has not affected.” (Pg. xxxii)

He continues, “historiography has long held that the acquisition of all Louisiana was a stunning surprise to Jefferson… But to suppose that he did not fully expect extension of settlement to produce extension of sovereignty as well, is to ignore the most massive facts… he could hardly have believed that the territory was long to remain foreign… Usually a trading voyage to ‘the coast’ lasted three years… If the Mississippi and the Columbia [Rivers] did indeed provide a water route across North America, as Jefferson believed, the voyage could be shortened, the costs reduced, and the hazards almost eliminated… The route would not be expeditious, cheap, and safe from blockade and attack if the territory it crossed were to remain foreign soil.” (Pg. xxxv)

He adds, “by personality and temperament Lewis was the natural commander and Clark the adjutant… the two agreed and worked together with a mutuality unknown elsewhere in the history of exploration and rare in any kind of human association… Lewis was the diplomatic and commercial thinker, Clark the negotiator. Lewis… was the scientific specialist, Clark the engineer and geographer as well as the master of frontier crafts… Clark … usually left the management of the boats to [Lewis]. Clark evidently had the greater gift for dealing with Indians.” (Pg. li-lii) He points out, “Lewis and Clark respected the Indians’ personal dignity, their rituals, their taboos, their religious thinking, indeed the full content of their thought… Finally there was the simple fact that they, and Clark especially, liked Indians… It paid off. They had no trouble with most tribes… and no difficulty they had with them even threatened to get out of hand.” (Pg. lv)

Chapter 1 explains, “The party consisted of: nine young men from Kentucky; 14 soldiers of the United States Army… two French watermen… an interpreter and hunter; and a black servant [York] belonging to captain Clark…The party was to embark on board of three boats; Two horses were at the same time to be led along the banks of the river for the purpose of bringing home game or hunting in case of scarcity.” (Pg. 1-3) The first part of the journey began on May 14th, 1804, and it concluded in 1806. Here are some excerpts from the journals:

(Clark: 10/8/1804) “the three great [Indian] Chiefs and many others came to see us… [and were] much astonished at my black Servant, who did not lose the opportunity of [displaying] his powers [of] Strength, etc. This nation never saw a black man before.” (Pg. 48)
(Lewis: 4/7/05) “the picture which now presented itself to me was a most pleasing one. Entertaining as I do the most confident hope of succeeding in a voyage which had formed a darling project of mine for the last ten years, I could but esteem this moment of my departure as among the most happy of my life. The party are in excellent health and spirits, zealously attached to the enterprise, and anxious to proceed; not a whisper of murmur or discontent to be heard among them, but all act in unison, and with the most perfect harmony.” (Pg. 92)
(Clark: 5/23/05) “I walked on shore and killed a female Ibi or big horn animal … this animal is a species peculiar to this upper part of the Missouri… it was somewhat larger than the mail of the Common Deer; the body rather thicker … and not so long in proportion to its height as the common Deer; the head and horns of the male are remarkably large compared with the other parts of the animal.” (Pg. 115)
(Lewis: 5/31/05) “The hills and … Cliffs which we passed today exhibit a most romantic appearance. The bluffs of the river rise to the height of from 2 to 300 feet … As we passed on it seemed as if those scenes of visionary enchantment would never have and end; for here it is too that nature presents to the view of the traveler vast ranges of walls of tolerable workmanship.” (Pg. 123)
(Lewis: 6/11/05) “My fare is really sumptuous this evening: buffalo’s humps, tongues and marrowbones, fine trout parched meal pepper and salt, and a good appetite; the last is not considered the least of the luxuries.” (Pg. 138)
(Lewis: 7/19/05) “this rock is a black granite below and appears to be of a much lighter color above and from the fragments I take it to be flint of a yellowish brown… from the singular appearance of this place I called it the ‘gates of the rocky mountains.’” (Pg. 160)
(Lewis: 7/24/05) “Our trio of pests still invade and obstruct us on all occasions. These are the mosquitoes, eye gnats, and prickley pears, equal to any three curses that ever poor Egypt labored under …” (Pg. 165)
(Lewis: 7/27/05) “We begin to feel considerable anxiety with respect to the Snake Indians. If we do not find them or some other nation who have horses, I fear the successful issue of our voyage will be very doubtful or at all events much more difficult in its accomplishment… if any Indians can subsist in the form of a nation in these mountains with the means they have of acquiring food we can also subsist.” (Pg. 168-169)
(Lewis: 8/13/05) “I now explained to them [Indians] the objects of our journey… all the women and children of the camp were shortly collected about the lodge to indulge themselves with looking at us we being the first white persons they had ever seen, after the ceremony of the pipe was over.” (Pg. 193)
(Lewis: 8/18/05) “This day I completed my 31st year, and conceived that I had in all human probability now existed about half the period which I am to remain in this Sublunary world. I reflected that I had as yet done but… very little … to further the happiness of the human race or to advance the information of the succeeding generation. I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and now sorely feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended… [I] redouble my exertions … to promote those two primary objects of human existence… to live for MANKIND, as I have heretofore lived for MYSELF.” (Pg. 206)
(Clark: 11/15/05) “Indians in a canoe came down with … roots to sell for … blankets or robes, both of which we could not spare. I informed those Indians … that if they stole our guns … the men would certainly shoot them. I treated them with great distance…” (Pg. 285)
(Lewis: 1/4/06) “These people the Chinooks … differ from all Indians I have every become acquainted with, for their dispositions invariably lead them to give whatever they are possessed of no matter how useful or valuable, for a bauble which pleases their fancy, without consulting its usefulness or value.” (Pg. 299)
(Lewis: 1/8/06) “The Clatsops Chinooks … in this neighborhood are excessively fond of smoking tobacco… they inhale it in their lungs until they become surcharged… I have no doubt the smoke … in this manner becomes much more intoxicating…” (Pg. 305)
(Lewis: 2/1/06) “Had it not been for that happy expedient which I devised of securing the powder… we should not have had a single charge of powder… which is now our only hope for subsistence and defense in a route of 4000 miles through a country exclusively inhabited by savages.” (Pg. 317)
(Lewis: 2/20/06) “the well known treachery of the natives by no means entitle them to … confidence… our preservation depends on never losing sight of this trait in their character, and being always prepared to meet it in whatever shape it may present itself.” (Pg. 325)
(Lewis: 3/21/06) “Our sick men… do not seem to recover… the pain of which he complains most seems to be seated in the small of his back and remains obstinate. I believe that it is rheumatism with which they are both afflicted.” (Pg. 335-336)
(Lewis: 4/13/06) “The dog now constitutes a considerable part of our subsistence and with most of the party it has become a favorite food; certain I am that it is a healthy strong diet, and from habit… I prefer it to lean venison or Elk.” (Pg. 350)
(Lewis: 4/23/06) “The natives entertained us with a dance… this dance differed from any I have yet seen. They formed a circle and all sung as well the spectators as the dancers who performed within the circle…. The whole concluded with a promiscuous dance in which most of them sang and danced…” (Pg. 363)
(Lewis: 5/10/06) “The Indians appear well pleased, and I am confident that they are not more so than our men who once more have their stomach well filled with horse beef and the bread of cows. These people have shown much greater acts of hospitality than we have witnessed from any nation or tribe since we have passed the rocky Mountains… it is the only act which deserves the appellation of ‘hospitality’ which we have witnessed in this quarter.” (Pg. 380)
(Lewis: 7/15/06) “The mosquitoes continue to infest us in such manner that we can scarcely exist; for my own part I am confined by them to my bier at least ¾ of my time. My dog even howls with the torture he experiences from them… they are so numerous that we frequently get them in our throats as we breathe.” (Pg. 425-426)
(Lewis: 8/22/06) “I promised the [Cheyenne] Nation that I would inform their Great Father the President of the United States, and he would have them supplied with goods, and mentioned in what manner they would be supplied.” (Pg. 463)

This book is a ‘treasure’ of American history.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the paperback edition published by Houghton Mifflin Company Sentry Edition 31 Boston 504 pp. Maps by Erwin Raisz Copyright 1953 As explained by the editor, Bernard Devoto, this edition is a condensed version where no important events or incidents are omitted. The original Lewis and Clark Journals by Reuben Gold Thwaites are 7 volumes plus a volume of maps and difficult to find. I used paper road maps along with my reading (that was in 1977 before Google maps) and visited The Lewis and Clark Trail. The National Park Service published a brochure with a timeline and map of the trail.

[Leslie Reiber · Rating 4 out of 5]

more stuff to understand about our nation

[Joe Pestka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this book, quite a journey undertaken with human will and spirit.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging,factual,relevant. Despite the misspellings and sentence fragments, I found the book fascinating and timely. A challenging read.

[Russell Howen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most interesting book with the words of the explorers themselves in their notations.