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VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Shirley Griffith, with the VOA Special Englishprogram, Explorations. Today we continue our story of Lewis andClark. Their exploration in the early eighteen-hundreds led to theopening of the American West.
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VOICE ONE:
Last week we told how PresidentThomas Jefferson suggested the trip to his private secretaryMeriwether Lewis. The president said Lewis and a group of men shouldtravel northwest up the Missouri River as far as possible and thencontinue west to the Pacific Ocean. The explorers were to reportabout the land, people, animals and plants they found.
Lewis asked his friend William Clark to join the group. Clarkaccepted and the two men agreed to act as equal leaders of the groupthey named the Corps of Discovery. Their trip began on Mayfourteenth, eighteen-oh-four.
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VOICE TWO:
It was one-hundred-sixty-four days into the trip. Lewis and Clarkhad traveled about two-thousand-four-hundred-twenty kilometers whenthey were stopped by the cold winter weather. They named theirwinter home Fort Mandan. Mandan was the name of an Indian tribe thatlived nearby.
VOICE ONE:
At Fort Mandan, Lewis and Clarkmet French Canadian hunter Toussaint Charbonneau. He was living withthe Indians. He asked to join the Corps of Discovery. He also askedif his Indian wife could come too. Her name was Sacagawea. She waspregnant. Lewis and Clark agreed to let them join their group fortwo reasons. The first was that Charbonneau spoke several Indianlanguages. The second concerned Sacagawea. She came from theShoshoni tribe that lived near the Rocky Mountains in the far West.
She had been captured as a young girl by another Indian tribe.Lewis and Clark knew that no Indian war group ever traveled withwomen. They knew that Sacagawea’s presence with them would showIndians that the Corps of Discovery did not want to fight. Sacagaweagave birth to her son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, on Februaryeleventh, eighteen-oh-five. The baby, too, would make the long tripto the Pacific Ocean. He was the youngest member of the Corps ofDiscovery.
VOICE TWO:
In early April, the Corps of Discovery prepared to travel west.The smaller group of soldiers that had aided them during their tripto Fort Mandan prepared to return south to Saint Louis. The soldierstook the larger of the three boats the group had used to follow theMissouri River. They also took Lewis and Clark’s first maps,animals, plants and reports to President Jefferson. These reportsprovided much detail about the land and what was on it. For example,Lewis used more than one-thousand words to tell about one bird.
Today, visitors to President Jefferson’s home in the southeasternstate of Virginia can see many things collected by Lewis and Clark.Animal heads and weapons made by the Mandan Indian tribe are amongthem.
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VOICE ONE:
The Corps of Discovery again moved up the Missouri River as soonas the warm weather of spring began to return. Lewis wrote of seeingthousands of animals: American bison, deer, huge elk and very fastantelope. Lewis saw thousands of animals all feeding together.
VOICE TWO:
Lewis and Clark soon decided to leave behind importantinformation, plants and things collected from Indians. They werehaving problems carrying everything they were gathering. They alsodecided to leave extra food behind. They did this by digging a deephole and burying everything to protect it from animals. They woulddo this again and again on their way west. They would collecteverything on their return trip.
VOICE ONE:
The explorers soon reached an area where a series of waterfallsblocked passage on the river. This area is near the modern city ofGreat Falls, Montana. Here, the Corps of Discovery pulled the boatsfrom the water and took them over land to the river. They carriedthe boats almost thirty kilometers. To make the trip easier, theymade wooden wheels for their boats. Later they buried the wheelswith more food and things they had collected.
VOICE TWO:
On July twenty-fifth, eighteen-oh five, Meriwether Lewis and twoother men saw a small river that was flowing to the west. All riversbefore had flowed east or southeast. Lewis correctly guessed he hadreached the line that divides the North American continent. Rainfalling to the west of the imaginary line becomes rivers that flowto the Pacific Ocean.
Rain that falls to the east of the line forms rivers that flow tothe Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. Meriwether Lewis becamethe first American to cross this continental line. At that point,Lewis could tell from the huge mountains he saw ahead that theywould find no waterway across the continent. A lot of the trip wouldhave to be over land.
VOICE ONE:
Meriwether Lewis met two Shoshoni Indian women in this same area.About sixty men from the tribe quickly arrived riding horses. Theywere dressed and painted for war. It was something that few whitemen ever saw — a Shoshoni war party prepared to fight. Lewis madepeace signs. There was no trouble.
VOICE TWO:
Two days later, Clark arrived with the main group. The Corps ofDiscovery met with the Indians. At the meeting, Sacagawea began tocry as she looked at the Shoshoni chief, Cameahwait. Cameahwait washer brother. She had not seen him since she was kidnapped many yearsbefore.
Lewis and Clark could communicate with the Shoshoni Indians.
But it was not easy. Sacagawea would listen to the Shoshoni. Shewould then speak to her husband, Charbonneau, in the Hidatsalanguage. He would speak in French to a soldier in the group,Francis Labiche, who then spoke in English to Lewis. It took a longtime, but it worked.
The Corps of Discovery decided to leave the boats and continuewest on horses. Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark trade for horses.She also helped them find an Indian guide to lead them. His name wasToby. It was already the month of September when they reached thehigh mountains. It was also extremely cold. The explorers began tosuffer from a severe lack of food. They were forced to kill and eatseveral of their horses.
VOICE ONE:
In October they found the huge Columbia River. High winds andrain slowed the group’s progress. On November seventh, they reachedthe Pacific Ocean. Clark recorded that five-hundred-fifty-four dayshad passed since they left their camp at Wood River near SaintLouis. They had travelled six-thousand-six-hundred-forty-eightkilometers.
VOICE TWO:
For several days the Corps of Discovery camped in an area that isnow the extreme southern part of the state of Washington. But thehunting was poor. Indians told them the hunting would be betteracross the Columbia River. Lewis and Clark decided to hold a voteand let the Corps of Discovery decide. The Corps of Discovery votedto move south across the river into what is now the state of Oregon.
William Clark’s black slave York and the Indian guide Sacagawea
were included in the vote. History experts say this was the firstfree, democratic election west of the Rocky Mountains. And they sayit was the first time in American history that a black slave and awoman voted in a free election.
VOICE ONE:
The explorers quickly built a camp of wooden buildings on theColumbia River. They would stay there during the winter monthsbetween eighteen-oh-five and eighteen-oh-six. They named thebuildings Fort Clatsop. “Clatsop” was the name of a nearby group offriendly Indians. The area of Fort Clatsop is very near the presentcity of Astoria, Oregon. Visitors to that area today can walkthrough a copy of Fort Clatsop that was built innineteen-fifty-five.
VOICE TWO:
The group stayed at Fort Clatsop for four months. It rained allbut twelve days. During the long winter months, the explorers huntedand preserved food. They used animal skins to make new clothes andshoes. They also studied the Indians, fish, animals and lands nearthe area of the fort. Clark made extremely good maps of the area.Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and the other members of the Corpsof Discovery were prepared for their return trip to Saint Louis.That will be our story next time.
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VOICE ONE:
You have been listening to the Special English program,Explorations. This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Shirley Griffith. Our program today was written andproduced by Paul Thompson. Join us again next week on the Voice ofAmerica as we finish our story of Lewis and Clark and the land theyexplored.