As time passes, the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition, fathered by the great President Jefferson, should shine brighter and brighter amidst the other pages of American history.

The purchase of the Province of Louisiana was opposed by many citizens. They were ignorant and short-sighted; they asserted that here was a useless burden of waste land fitted only to the Indian and the fur-trader; that the people of the United States should occupy themselves with the land east of the Mississippi.

But wiser men prevailed. The expedition launched boldly out into the unknown, to carry the flag now into the new country, and perhaps to make possible the ownership of still a farther country, at the Pacific Ocean.

Time proved the wisdom of President Jefferson’s preparations made even before the territory had been bought. Just at the right moment the trail across the continent was opened. Louisiana Territory was valued at its future worth; the people were informed of its merits and possibilities; after the return of the explorers, the American citizens pressed forward, to see for themselves. And in due course the flag floated unchallenged in that Oregon where, also, the Lewis and Clark men had blazed the way.

I should like to have been under Captain Meriwether Lewis, turning thirty, and Captain William Clark, scant thirty-four. They were true leaders: brave, patient, resourceful and determined. And the company that followed them were likewise, brave, patient, resourceful and determined. These qualities are what bound them all together—the American, the Frenchman, the Indian—as one united band, and brought them through, triumphant.

Edwin L. Sabin

Denver, Colorado

CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
[The Expedition and the Country]11
[The Rank and File]13
I. [Making Ready]19
II. [The Start]29
I.[The Coming of the White Chiefs]41
II.[Peter Goes Aboard]55
III.[Peter Meets the Chiefs]65
IV.[To the Land of the Sioux]79
V.[Bad Hearts]92
VI.[The Captains Show Their Spunk]102
VII.[Snug in Winter Quarters]112
VIII.[Excitement at Fort Mandan]121
IX.[Peter Wins His Spurs]135
X.[The Kingdom of the “White Bears”]148
XI.[Which Way to the Columbia?]160
XII.[Seeking the Bird-woman’s People]170
XIII.[Horses at Last]185
XIV.[Across Starvation Mountains]194
XV.[Hooray for the Pacific!]206
XVI.[The Winter at Fort Clatsop]217
XVII.[Friendly Yellept, the Walla Walla]227
XVIII.[The Pierced Noses Again]236
XIX.[Back Across the Mountains]244
XX.[Captain Lewis Meets the Enemy]254
XXI.[The Home Stretch]263