President Thomas Jefferson has sent Lewis and Clark on a mission to explore the Louisiana territory
and
Find a route to the Pacific Ocean
if they succeed it will open up vast new areas to American trade and settlement and
Justify the boldest move of Jefferson's career
Well for Thomas Jefferson he knew there was something out there in our great land, but he didn't know what it was
It was a gamble to send Lewis and Clark
Their plan is to use the Missouri River as a highway
Following it as far west as possible
In his greatest fantasy Jefferson almost seems to see a sort of interstate highway system of rivers where there are no barriers
Where you somehow can just thread your way across the continent with the greatest of ease. He should have known better
By early winter 1804 Lewis
And Clark are stalled in present-day North Dakota. They've come less than a thousand miles from st. Louis
They build a shelter called Fort Mandan
It attracts a handful of trappers and traders
venturing west
While they were at Fort Mandan there were also British and French
Traders who were embedded amongst the Mandan and so they were asking questions of anybody. They could find what what they should expect
They soon learned that further travel by water is impossible and they'll have to continue
overland
then in November
They made a french-canadian trapper and his wife a
17 year old Shoshone
named Sacagawea Sacagawea
Was incredibly important to the Lewis and Clark expedition
She could be an ambassador for them somebody who could talk to the local Indians and tell them
what Lewis and Clark were doing there and having a woman and especially a woman with a baby with your party was a
Universal sign that you came in. Peace
With new plans in place Lewis and Clark wait out the winter in North Dakota
