Looking the lewis and Clark Expedition and discussing some of the ramifications of this most important expedition. Some people have the lewis and Clark Expedition and compared it to the odyssey of the greek tragedies, just like the civil war. Some can sometimes seen as americas iliad of that great battle. And so this great voyage of the lewis and Clark Expedition be quite significant and, important. A few years ago, Atlantic Monthly did, a survey of the top 100 most influential figures in American History and and clark make the list at. And what i find interesting is theyre the only names on the entire list where theyre listed. So its almost like theyre inseparable. And and the smithsonian editor did one just five years ago on the most significant americans and Meriwether Lewis and, William Clark again made that list. And they were also hooked together. And sakaguchi, a, who accompanied the expedition, also made it so this young teenage woman was considered one of the 100 most significant american. So there is a an impression across the united that lewis and Clark Expedition was significant. And the people that went along are important for our countrys history. Today. Were going to discuss the expedition on three main facets. Were going look at it as the causes and historical context, the events south and the significance of the expedition. Wanted to start out with this from Thomas Jefferson. This was in a letter he wrote George Rogers clark, who was the older brother of clark. And this was written in 1780. So its just few years before the. Its just a few years after the independence declaration of independence. And a few years before the constitution is ratified. And he says, we shall form to the American Union a barrier against the dangerous extension of the british province of canada and. Add to the empire of liberty, extensive and fertile country, thereby converting dangerous enemies into valuable friends. So even during time of the articles of confederation, jefferson is sending letters to various peoples and to kind of formulate this of liberty that he had in mind. Now, jefferson was a child, the enlightenment and he knew the significance of through exploration that people on the ground things and writing them down and recording those would be very valuable for science. And so his attempts to explore what became the United States are legendary. These are just three of the attempts that he made. First was to George Rogers in that letter that we just read. He was a military soldier who, had won some campaigns during, the American Revolution and he said that he wanted him to lead expedition. And clark replied, that he was not in very good health. But if he decided to it in the future, he should think about asking his little brother, william, who will eventually join the lewis and Clark Expedition. So thats pretty cool. The second was john led here and this explorer had an interesting idea that you could explore the western part of the americas by coming from. And so he actually tried to cross russia and go through kamchatka in alaska to come down the coast. But he was stopped by catherine the great one of the great czarist tsarinas from russian history, andrei michaux was a french botanist, and jefferson, as Founding Member of the American Philosophical Society and and got enough support to, try to get him to at least find flora of the west and bring that knowledge back to his friends of Philosophical Society and all three of these expeditions did not reach their zenith, nor they success in the in the terms that jefferson had hoped. When you look at it a european depiction of north america in 1800, you see that the spanish have been quite active and the california coast. There are some french and spanish communities throughout the south and southeast and. Then the the pink areas established or settled the british in the the colonies area. But jeffersons vision, this empire of liberty, was very powerful. You know, he he may not have ever traveled west of the blue ridge mountains, but his mind certainly traveled all the way to the pacific. And in 1800, he learned from his friends in france that there had been a secret treaty that samuel afonso, in which the french had regained all of the area, had suddenly been known as the Louisiana Purchase that had been given to spain during the french and indian war. And so this was significant because france had been a growing empire, and now was led by one of the great modern figures, napoleon. And so now theres not a a crumbling, weak empire on americas westward flank, but an aggressive military mystic french opponent or potential opponent on . The flank. The other thing that changed his way of thinking was the publication of a book. You know, jefferson loved books. He collected thousands of them. He went into great expense debt to do so. And when the library of congress burned down during the war of 1812, jefferson actually gave much of his private library to form the corpus of the new library of congress. And as go there, you can visit it and, see some of the collections that jefferson donated to the. But he was very, very keen on this book by Alexander Mackenzie because voyages from montreal to the pacific was a northward for traders account of traveling along the rivers and streams to the pacific ocean. And even though it was too far north into canada to be effective for year round travel this greatly intrigued jefferson because mackenzie had postulated to the british that they could take control of the entire trade of north america if they put a a monopolistic control into Something Like either the Hudsons Bay Company or the northwest company to take this over. Jefferson did not want america to miss out on the fur bounty of the american west. He also wanted to have utilitarian knowledge that the enlightenment demanded an expected and with the 18 election, he had now and catapulted into becoming the second president of the United States of america. Third president. Excuse me and his geopolitical issues and intrigues with outside inside forces almost compelled him to do something about it. So he sends messages and diplomats to france to napoleon, if he would be willing sell what became known as the Louisiana Purchase. And it took several years for this to happen, but eventually it did on the 30th of april, 1803. This tract of land stretching from the gulf of mexico to the canadian. Was 828,000 square miles of land, draining much of what flowed into the mississippi and Missouri Rivers. This was a territory in which the native Peoples Still claimed right of occupancy. But america was purchasing the right of discoverer v from france. Jefferson announced this to the american on the 4th of july in 1803 and saw this as a great boon. The country to double its size like this. He said, i look to the duplication of this area as a great achievement to the mass of happiness, which is to to ensue. And then postulated is it not better that the opposite bank of the mississippi should settled by our own brother and then children than by strangers of another family. So hes having this vision now of america expanding even beyond the boundaries of the mississippi which in the boundary line. 1783 at the conclusion of the American Revolution. And this enlightenment through exploration was to take a number of turns. But most significant were the scientific questioning Scientific Method and real time that would occur with explorer that were on the ground. And his idea for this empire of liberty was one in which america would spread perhaps from sea to shining sea. But at this time that quite a dangerous proposal, because there was a french philosopher by the name of montesquieu who said that republics could not exist in large Continental Oil ways because the further away you were from the periphery, the more prone or at those fringes spin off from the center. And so the question, how big a republic could get . And still function was still undetermined. So america became this great experiment for expansion of freedom and democracy and equality. There were number of explorers that went west during jeffersons tenure in office. And we will focus on this red line where the lewis Clark Expedition embark from while they embark really the false of the ohio up here all the way down to saint louis and then the saint louis to the columbia. But youll also notice that pike went on several expeditions. He explored the headwaters of the mississippi happy arriving at lake itasca, and he also went on a southwestern to find the headwaters of, the red river, and eventually arrested by the spanish and, transported through spain and, back around to natchez, the freeman custer expedition embarked up the red river, and there was another expedition by hunter and dunbar that went up to washington. And there was another expedition proposed to go up the platte river. But it never happened. So there were lots of designs to try to explore these major river systems. One of the reasons why the lewis and Clark Expedition is more famous than all of these others is because some of the others were actually turned back by the spanish. And the of pike. He was arrested along with his men and taken under house arrest down to santa fe, then down to chihuahua and the freeman and custer expedition was turned back by the spanish, the hunter and dunbar expedition went to the hot and arkansas. They had some r r there with the minerals and then returned home. And the stephen long expedition wont occur until. 1819. So its its down the road. Are you aware that lewis and clark there were seven or excuse me, there were four different attempts by the spanish to arrest lewis and clark. And they sent out expeditions to to apprehend them. And they came within a few hundred on two occasions. And to nearly arrest them. Did jeffersons instructions to were quite clear the object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River and such principal stream of it as its course and communication with. The water of the pacific ocean, and offer the most direct and practical water communication across continent for the purposes of commerce. And this was jefferson letter to lewis that became kind of his marching orders orders. Lewis knew. I mean, this letter to lewis was epic. Its over six pages long. It has a whole list of things that jefferson wants to do. And so he writes a letter to his friend clark, who he had served under a campaign in the 70 ninetys asking him to join him as a co commander. And he says if anything, under these circumstances, in this enterprise, which would induce you to participate with me in this fatigues dangers its honors believe me theres no man on earth with whom i should feel equal pleasure in sharing them as with yourself. So this was an invitation for clark to. Join him in an equal capacity. Even though the president , the secretary of war had not given permission for that rank and, clark wrote back and said, i cheerfully, you in an official character, as mentioned in your letter, to protect you of all the dangers, difficulties and, fatigue. And i anticipate the honors and rewards of the result of such an enterprise. Should we be in accomplishing it. So this was a pretty exciting time for lewis and clark. They began preparing. Now that the official news had been released in july and for the following years. And you can this journey that lewis clark will head on. This is about 8000 miles and its going to be very long trip 864 days. Theyll be gone. So this is a expedition and that required a lot logistical preparation. One of the first things they did was try to find about the region. So they gathered that had been published about the area. And i love map by nicholas king. Its called map of the western part of north america. And you can see that the Mississippi River and the great lakes and the route route of the canadians is quite defined as is the Pacific Coast, where vancouver captain cook and others had mapped and charted the Pacific Coast. But i love this word right in the middle. Ive looked at hundreds and hundreds of maps in my life and is the only time i found this word. I blown it up so you can read it and says conjectural. Basically that means we dont know whats there. And this is amazing. Lewis clark are pretty much they know where their destination is, but theyre not quite sure what theyre going to encounter in the interim. There were kinds of stories of what they might find. They might find exotic animals or blue eyed welchman up near the mandan lost tribes of israel, mountains of silver, mountains of salt a northwest passage, a large, furry beaver that were six feet long. I mean who knew what to expect in this area. So theyre kind of exploring naturalists that theyre going Pay Attention to the flora and the fauna, the landscape and the native peoples to try to understand better whats going on in that region. Now they also knew that if they got on to the great plains and there werent any trees to build, boats that they may need to have another form of transportation. So lewis devised an erector set boat, the experiment that could put together and cover with hides. And in the event that they needed a boat and they didnt have trees, the fact is, after they crossed that the great falls of the missouri, they did need additional craft and put this boat together. But unfortunately, they didnt bring any duct tape or call to to keep the seams leaking. So the boat ended not being as useful for purpose as they hope. He also made one of his important acquisitions and he bought a newfoundland dog named seaman. We dont know whether he was a black dog or the red white colors of the new face. But seaman play an Important Role as kind of the mascot and pet along the journey. Ian clark meet near the falls of the ohio i and clarks point near louisville, kentucky. And in october they start discussing the kinds of things that they will need to have a successful. Clark and then military is the captain or as a lieutenant excuse me and lewis now formerly a captain. They kept the charade that they had both become. And so referred to one another as captain. Even though clarks not promoted until later on. Our bed, his family often. And his family at the south of the ohio and byrd, kentucky, which in a province or county of virginia until it became a state 1790. And so they head down on this keel boat or barge more. That was about 55 feet long and could tow 10 to 12 tons of material. They also did some recruiting as they went to the forts. Some of the officers tried to give them the people they wanted to get out of the fort and they wanted to vote off the island. So speak. But lewis and clark were quite careful and who they chose. They wanted unmarried men primarily that could participate in these dangers and fatigues. And there were only one or two married men that actually went on the expedition. Almost all of the others single and all is said and done. About 55 members embark in saint louis, may of 1804. Sergeant gass was of the commission noncommissioned officers that joined them. Preston. And they built a winter encampment on the side of the river because the transfer of the louisiana had not taken place yet. So they were waiting for that formal ceremony to. During the winter. However, they were quite busy. Lewis went to saint louis to look for procure supplies and clark spent most of the time the men and shooting and also in the other things that they would need to be successful. Now there were at least five journalists who kept records this expedition and lewis and clark were both be some the most important writers. There are several stretches in which lewis either did not write or weve lost those entries. Clark wrote all but days, and even those ten days when he was gone on a hunting trip, summarized. So he basically accounted for every day of the expedition which is quite remarkable. When you look at the words of lewis and clark and their enlisted men, they wrote more words than are contained, the holy bible. So this a pretty extensive record and its been digitized. Its available free for the public at the university of nebraska press. Its a national because it can be searched and keyword search, almost any kind of topic you can think about. Now, the expedition was kind of a village on the move and lewis was the the trained scientist. Jefferson had sent him to philadelphia to meet with his friends, Philosophical Society and the university to receive training on how to take astronomical observations and the equipment that he would need and things like that. Clark was the soldier, and hes the one who made the expedition happen. Hes the one day to day thats getting the boats up the river. Hes making the maps is overseeing the men. York was his servant and they have been lifelong companions, and clark took him with him on the trip. They will meet sacagawea, a third of the way into the expedition. Well talk more about her when that happens. They had french voyagers that were the boatman to take them upstream. That regular army. And they also had civilians were hunters and interpreters. People like john colter and george three yard. They carried with them a huge amount of trade goods to give as gifts to the tribes that they met. Also had tokens of sovereignty like these peace medals with on the front and the hams class of the native soldier on the back with the words peace and friendship. These are called jefferson peace medals. And there are quite and the immense has actually remade replicas of and i have some in my office that you can come see. They have textiles. These are hudsons bay blankets similar to the ones weve looked at before and especially trade and the lewis and clark beads here and here but the ones that the natives like the most seem to be the blue beads. And they they traded those at almost every stop that they went. Well, they gathered this ten tons of material and they put it inside this barge. And clark also made made some platforms that could be marched on by the men as they were pulling the boat upstream and also raised as defensive shields. If if their boat ever came under attack. So its quite an ingenious way to do that. And heres drawing that he made of of the barge. And on the 14th of may, 1804, they sent out from saint louis under a gentle breeze, traveled up through Saint Charles and and up the mighty Missouri River. It was a challenge to go upstream. The river flows at 4 to 12 miles an hour, depending on what currents and eddies that youre in. And so this was a very laborious way to try to get upstream. Sometimes they would row and other times they would pull when they could push against a bottom. They could their sails if the wind was blowing the right direction and. Of course, the rivers meander and. So this may only last for a short distance before youd have to try a different method. They even attached long to the front of the boats so that they could pull them from the shore. You can imagine how how fun that would be to try to pull this ten, ten boat upstream. In addition to the large keel boat or barge, they had to and white paros. Thats a french word for fancy canoe and and they became the boats that would be used for hunting expeditions to travel faster or to set up camp or other kinds of things. Because their greater mobility. So these are the three main vessels that are hauling these five men. Clark was the principal cartographer and mapmaker and he was good at dead reckoning. He also had the gift of seeing the landscape from a horizontal point of view. So think about it as. Youre looking across the landscape horizontally, but you can see it vertical vertically. Like youre looking down from an airplane. Thats the kind of maps that hes drawing is from the top view. And so he actually does a pretty good job with his distances. I think he was off Something Like 30 miles after this entire journey of just using compass and and estimations on how far they would travel. So its pretty amazing. They did run into some trouble, get stuck on sandbars or have try to tip them over. But there were also moments of fun and levity where they would play the fiddle and dance around the campfire. If did not follow rules, there were consequences. In this case, the army required flogging. And so this involved a cat of nine tails. You can see the the whip here. And it would do damage to your back. And they would lay these usually 25 strokes for offenses 50. And in one case, 100. And the person couldnt even walk for several days after that. As you can imagine. And there their trip upstream was all of the adventure. Initially, the french knew a lot of the names that native peoples and french referred to certain places. And so thats what they were using as their names the further along into the that they go, they start naming the and streams for people that they know and friends back home. Even the president of the United States kind of changes over the course of time. Louis is primarily walking on the shore by himself, sometimes accompanied by seamen, and hes observing the flora and fauna. Hes taking detailed notes. Hes gathering specimens. Its kind of being this scientific explorer. Meanwhile, clark is running the barge and making sure that all of the expeditions moving forward. Louis had a narrow escape with death where he came to the edge of a cliff, nearly fell off. He grabbed his hunting and dug it into the side of the mountain, hold himself from falling into river and tear the people below that are wondering whether louis is going to be dead or not. That night. Well talk about how louis actually dies next on friday. So hopefully youre enjoying by his own hand the, mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis. Im at night. They would sit down and write in their journals. Sometimes they would copy from another and theres a private who keeps record every day. And so after the journeys over lewis and clark will try to buy all of the journals that were kept by other so that they could put this all one record. And theyre also noting flora and fauna in case lewis and clark discover, according to the scientific linnaean system. 178 plants and 122 animals that were new to. So this is quite. And you read their descriptions of how they spent half a day pouring water a prairie dog hole up in south dakota where they were trying to one. And believe it or not, they did. And theyve made a little cage it and they kept alive all winter and. They sent it back to Thomas Jefferson as a gift. So imagine how many stamps youd put on the prairie dog to mail it, to monitor. Well, also encountered animals that they had heard about, but didnt see. Well, well discuss grizzly bear nation when we when we arrive to the montana. On the 4th of july. They stopped at a creek and they named it independence creek. They fired shots cannon, and drank the last of their as a celebration of independence. And like i mentioned, the most expensive things they took them. Besides the scientific equipment were indian presence. They spend almost 700 on that, which was a huge of money at the time. And can see the kinds of things that they took there first in kent encounter with native peoples occurred near present day Council Bluffs iowa and omaha nebraska. Its named Council Bluffs because of this council that took place in august of 1804, when they met members of the oto in missouri, a nations and they had a did their little get where they would have a military. They would show some of the cool things they brought along like a magnifying and an air gun and things like that. And eventually, this ended up being nice because the natives them to a barbecue. They brought bison and and melons and both of them exchange different kinds of food and had a little get together. In august of 1804. The only death of any member of the expedition occurred just north of there when Sergeant Floyd died, likely from a first appendicitis or some kind of the internal organs malfunction and he was buried in the site of floyds near sioux city, iowa. As they moved up stream, they encountered the lakota nation and the lakota as are the western band of the teton sioux and are comprised of seven main bands. And this was one that was filled with difficulty because the dakotas already had trading relationships with the british and the story that lewis and clark were telling that they wanted all of the tribes to become peaceful. They wanted to build fortifications, the fur trade, where they could Exchange Goods and did sit well with the lakota is because already had the trade goods that they needed and they didnt want their neighbors to acquire any of them. So they tried to prevent and clark from proceeding forward. They took hold of the tow rope and held their boat. Clark grabbed his sword and he said, we are not a bunch of women. We will our our boat with our lives and make all of these grand proclamations. But fortunately, cooler prevail and this gentleman, black buffalo, will tell everyone to calm down. And events lee, they give them more gifts and are able to move forward. This was seen as one of the potential obstacles of ascending missouri was to either get past the lakota or have a confrontation. Now, fortunately for and clark and after the expedition, clark will spend a lot of the tension and time as indian agents in formulating a positive relationship with lakota. And they actually become United States allies. Up until the 1850s. So for almost 50 years, clark is able to negotiate a peaceful outcome between the United States and the lakota, which seem pretty cool thing to study study further upstream, they come to the earth lodges of, the arikara villages. This is near where the grand river flows. The missouri and the americas. A very hospitable and prosperous people. And they have a very enjoyable stay with. Lewis and clark promises to tribes that their return trip if theres anyone from their villages who want to return that they will take them. Unfortunately, one of the men who got decides to do this is a recruit chief who travels back east and actually dies from disease. And so when the news of that comes back, the americans are greatly disappointed. They some of them suspect foul play, even though there wasnt anything nefarious that on. But it ends up being a problem that will last until 1823. And theres actually a war fought between fur traders and a recurrence in 1823 that kind of result from this erik a leader dying from disease. When they arrive north dakota at the knife river villages they meet the down and lots of people these villages spread along the river. Were quite lewis and clark decided to winter there. It was already november was getting very cold. They knew the river would ice over and they asked the man down they could winter with them and. They built a fort and they name it fort. While at the fort. And this is one of this is second fort lewis and clarks men construct remember they had built one for the winter of 18 0304 down in illinois. This one is built in north dakota, near present day bismarck and. Theyll also build one on the Pacific Coast for the following winter. So those are the three posts that theyll erect. They have the Great Fortune meeting sacagawea. And even though she had this was a shoshone girl who had been captured or enslaved by the hidatsa when she was eight or nine years old and she was now a young teenager, she was a plural wife, a northwest company trader, tucson, charbonneau, and was pregnant with their first child. Who, Meriwether Lewis delivers during the winter in february and and she they name it Jean Baptiste charbonneau. This little goes on the expedition with them along with. So this is an amazing story. They take her husband along as an interpreter and and both of them are important liaisons they arrive at the shawnee villages the continental divide. Parks and slave man york was also big madison so many tribes there was a tradition among plains people that when you were in mourning, you would paint your body with ashes to become black. But when they tried to rub his skin and the ashton come off, they thought this was this was very significant. And so there are lots of interactions between the natives in york that are recorded in the diaries because of this interchange. It was very, very cold in north dakota that winter and it got below degrees fahrenheit, below zero. And before their last thermometer broke and and people getting frostbitten and places you dont want to be frostbitten and having a really hard time and trying to keep away from the. But they did spend time for things that they could exchange for mandan for corn because the mandan corn pretty was the main food source for them that whole winter. So they would exchange these these goods for the corn. They also joined the man down in pursuing lakota as who raided the Mandan Village and a short foray in february 1805. One of the mandan leaders they become quite close to is the named shaka shorty, known as the big white or the big white coyote. And sharkey shot a is going to be an important figure because on the return journey he travels back with lewis and to meet with Thomas Jefferson and we have the the documents and records of these interactions between shaka shorty and the president theyre quite fascinating to study but then it takes them two or three years to try to get him home. And i already told you about the troubles they had getting the news. The america leaders death back home. And so to take the amanda and chief, all the way back up to north dakota became a herky lamb effort that required a huge fur company to help transport him back. And so that expense from shaka shorty, his wife and children back to the man dance will be one of the factors that causes Meriwether Lewis to become financially indebted. I told you already that they gave a gift of a prairie dog to president. They also sent him a magpie, and they sent him some elk antlers. And these antlers still hang in. Entryway of monticello visitor in charlottesville, virginia. You can see those elk are still hanging. So its pretty cool that theyre still there. And they were traveling now upstream in canoes because they they heard from the hidatsa and mandeans that the Missouri River had a great series, cataracts or falls in, which the boat could not perceive past. And so they had to these seven canoes to proceed forward. They traveled through butte. Beautiful country in montana like, the white cliffs of the missouri that are still a very favorable canoeing and rafting place. I often take lewis and clark groups on this three day float trip through, the white cliffs, because its such a stunning to be. Its just kind of magical. They arrived at a river that flowed into the missouri and they could not decide which one was the principal stream and so they decided to have a vote and at this time they had sent about 25 of the people home on the keel boat from the Mandan Villages, and they had 33 members of the permanent party, which included sacajawea, a her baby, and her husband. They arrived at this river and they had a vote on which was the stream, the one to the right, which kind of muddy and looked just like the missouri had for a year and a half or was that the clear to the to the west. And 31 people voted that it was the stream to the north the muddy stream and lewis and clark are the only ones who voted that was the clear stream to the west well they didnt want to make the wrong decision. So they decided to send some groups to explore them for a couple of days. And so they explored and came back and gave their reports and they had another vote. Guess what . The vote was exactly the same. 31 to 2. Well they decided to follow captains because it was it was their choice and itd be their response ability. And fortunately they chose correctly as proceeded up from this confluence of the marias river and the Missouri River, they started to encounter a different landscape on the plains and lewis forged ahead to make sure they on the right stream. And he was separated from the group and in a 24 hour period he was nearly killed by a buffalo bull, a badger, wolverine, a rattlesnake snake and a grizzly bear. That night in his journal he says the entire Animal Kingdom has conspired against me was scared out of his mind up near grateful montana personally, the burden him so he survived that that and he arrived at the great falls. He wrote that this was such a splendid view. He said i again viewed the falls and was so much disgusted with the imperfect idea which it conveyed the scene that i determined to draw my pen across it and begin. But then i reflected i could not perhaps succeed better than penning the First Impressions of my mind. So hes is giving idea that he just cant write down how cool this place is. And and eventually the rest of the arrive and they know how difficult it would be to try to get votes around this so they know they had portage. Portage means to take the boats out and take them overland. So they cut down some trees and make some wills out of them and they start carting them for to 19 miles across the prairie. Great falls and there was lots of prickly pear that was puncturing their moccasins it was a great pain in the legs and feet and created all kinds of problems. Theres a fellow picking it out of his toes. But eventually they are able to get these vessels all the way. The upper portage and there they make can, but they also run into huge numbers of grizzly bears. The grizzlies were so numerous out of the missouri because either they could fish at the each fall each the falls because the fish have a hard time ascending the river there would gather in the and they also feasted on carrion of who drowned in the missouri and these bears were not afraid of people and this is the only time that the lewis and Clark Expedition ever declares war. Lewis declares war against the grizzly bear nation. In 1805. They also proceed forward and are excited. Meet the shawnee people. These are the tribes. Willa and. They were very happy to to visit with her and and meet they meet the flathead and negotiate trade with horses. They meet the nez perce and do the same thing. And these tribes of, the columbia plateau, were very friendly, were open to american trade and were excited to to welcome the explorers. And they had good relations with all of these groups. The nez perce told them that they were going to have a difficult mountain, so they traded more horses and then they made the trek across the Bitterroot Mountains at a very tough of it. Eventually come to lolo pass and they see these Rocky Mountains were not a single chain of mountains like they been anticipated. But were Mountain Range upon Mountain Range and demoralizing them. But they proceeded on a after crossing the Rocky Mountains, they arrived at the white prairie and met the another group of nez perce who are very friendly to them and and there are lots of stories of their interactions together. The nez perce agree to keep their horses and lewis and clark make more so that they can proceed down the river to the Columbia River and eventually to the pacific and as they shoot the rapids at places like the dalles native peoples line up on the banks thinking these crazy men are going to crash and we can take whatever floats to the bank, but they make it through and. Eventually they arrive at the pacific ocean. In november of 1805. Now we have much time to discuss return trip, but. Review that with you when we meet again on friday. But i want to thank you for your attention for today and if you have any questions, im happy to entertain them. Yes, sir, i have really quick question. Go ahead. I was wondering if, lewis and clark, if we know if were aware that the spanish were trying to arrest them, they were not, in fact, one of the fellows that had sent out or told the spanish that lewis and clark were even was the commander general of the United States army. His name was James Wilkinson. And well be talking about James Wilkinson as a potential figure and the eventual death of meriwether. So they werent aware that the spanish were after them but they they did learn later that the spanish had turned these other expeditions. Great question. Anything. Well, thanks for your