By: Bricean
William Clark was born August 1, 1770, in Carolina County, Virginia and died on September 1, 1838. The main reason William Clark and Meriwether Lewis are known is because of the Louisiana Purchase. But first I'm going to explain how Clark knows Lewis. "Lewis has served under Clark during the northwest campaigns in the 1790s in Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio where their friendship began. When Thomas Jefferson sought leadership for his proposed expedition to the pacific, he immediately tapped Lewis who in turn highly recommended Clark." (ND Historical Society)
Now I'm going to explain what the Louisiana Purchase is. "As the United States spread across the Appalachians, the Mississippi River became an increasingly important conduit for the produce of America's West (which at that time referred to the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi). Since 1762, Spain had owned the Territory of Louisiana, which included 828,000 square miles. The Territory made up all or part of fifteen modern U.S. states between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains." (US.history.state.gov) Lewis and Clark started their expedition on May 14,1804, in camp Dubois. Their main boat was the Keelboat. It was built in Pittsburgh, in 1803. The Keelboat was sent back to St. Louis in the spring of 1805 because it was to large to go further up the Missouri .
Here I'm going to talk about some things that Louis and Clark discovered. "On Saturday, 14, 1804, a storm struck their boat and would have thrown their boat up on to Sand Island and smashed to pieces in an instant had the party not leaped out and kept it off the island. The storm suddenly ceased and the river became smooth." (National park service) "On Thursday, June, 13, 1805, Clark saw the grandest site he ever saw, the rocks below receive the water in it's passage down and broke into perfect white foam which assumes a thousand forms in a moment." (Journals of Lewis and Clark's expedition)
Together, Clark and Lewis recorded the first scientific descriptions of over 300 animals and plant species. They even sent unfamiliar specimens back east, such as a prairie dog and a magpie. During their two and a half year expedition, the Corps of Discovery encountered more than two dozen Native Tribes. On Wednesday, October 30, 1805, Lewis saw a cascade caused by small streams falling from the mountain cliffs. On Thursday, October 31, 1805, they saw a remarkably high detached rock standing about 800 feet high and 40 paces around. They called it beacon rock. On Saturday, November 2, 1805,the river widened to almost a mile, the bottom is more extensive and thickly timbered. On Monday, November 4, 1805, Mount Adams was covered with snow; it rose to the form of a sugarloaf.
Upon Lewis and Clark's return people made landmarks with the information they collected over the years while they were out in the wild. William Clark's maps helped people navigate for two years and then the US started using other maps. William Clark and his wife, after his wife's death in 1820, Clark married Harriet Kennerly Radford, a widow with three children, and fathered two more son's. Over the last 2 months I had a lot of fun learning and teaching you about William Clark and what he did in his lifetime. The favorite thing I learned about was that William Clark found unfamiliar animals, such as a Prairie dog and a magpie.
Sources:
Wikipedia.com
ND Historical society
US history.state.gov
National park service
Journals of Lewis and Clark's expedition
