These past two years and four months, I had the honor of accompanying Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Corps of Discovery on their journey. The expedition from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, and I was invited to document the journey from the eyes of an average person to express to the public the hardships, discoveries and relationships the Corps made. We left on the fact finding mission across the newly purchased Louisiana Territory in May of 1804. Our main goal was to find a water route from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean more commonly known as the Northwest Passage. We also made our best effort to establish good relations with any Native American tribe we encounter and inform them their land was now under the control of the United States government. We tried our best to document plants, animals, and land forms we encountered along the way.
One of my favorite foods on the trip, we discovered on August 24, 1804 on top of a blue clay bluff. We found shrubs bearing red little berries. The shrubs had bright green leaves with a silver underside.
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Their unique skills and abilities helped us immensely along our voyage. Lewis was a skilled botanist, he often ventured off on his own to observed the flora and fauna of the area. He was also very strong, both physically and mentally. He could carry an entire canoe by himself and was a great strong leader. Clark kept an extraordinarily detailed journal, despite its bad spelling and grammar. His maps were just as detailed as his journal, paving the way for future settlement in the west. Clark was so good at finding the good in hard times and keeping our spirits high. He is such a friendly man, he could make peace with some of the more hostile tribes we encountered. Without the skills abilities and attitudes of Lewis and Clark, I don’t believe we could have made it