Lewis and Clark: As Told by Red Thompson

Meriweather Lewis and William Clark

These fine men are to lead the Corps of Discovery

Will you be one of the fine young men to explore

the west with them?

Sign up in St. Louis, Missouri today!

This is what the poster said and I wasn't about to let this opportunity go by. I wanted to explore the west with Lewis and Clark!

Hi, I'm Red Thompson, I grew up in the frontier state of Tennessee. So it was expected that when I read this ad I would be in St. Louis as fast as possible. I'm 24 but I still live in the house I grew up in. So naturally my Ma wasn't too happy with me deciding to sign up. But my Pa was thrilled, in fact I think he would have signed up himself if he hadn't of been 73 years old!

I bought my stage coach ticket the day after reading the ad. I was leaving the next day at 9:00 AM! So the next day at nine, I said my goodbyes and I was off.

I arrived in St. Louis at 6:00 PM after a bumpy ride in the stage coach. I paid my fees and I immediately went to the town hall to sign up. The Captains were going to pick their team in four days!

So in four day's time we finally met the two captains, Lewis and Clark. They looked all of us over and finally chose a group of about fifty young men. I was one of them! Yeehaw!!!! I'm going west!

We packed all the things we needed for the long journey ahead of us on two keel boats. And we were off within a week.

We started our journey in 1804 and none of us knew that it would be two years before we saw the U.S. again. Most of the expedition took place on the Missouri river. We paddled our way upstream on our keel boats. And let me tell you, it was hard work! To start, we had to have people resting and some men paddling. Then after a bit we would swap. But even with short rests we were exhausted by the end of the first day. The rest of the summer basically was the same as the first day, paddling, eating, paddling, etc.

But we also had encounters with Native Americans more frequently as we paddled closer to the Rocky Mountains. A handful of the Indians were friendly but others not so much. One of the less friendly was the Sioux Nation. When we arrived at one of there many villages we were all prepared for a fight. It was a good thing too because the village Chief wasn't pleased with the gifts we were presenting to him. Most of the other tribes were very pleased but not the Sioux. We also didn't have a very good translator. So when the the Captain tried to explain what had happened to the land we were on, the Chief didn't really know what was happening. And once again this didn't please him. Things weren't looking to good. Especially when the Chief ordered his Braves to take our canoes for themselves. We scrambled to take them back. Eventually we paddled away safely with no one injured but that was the worst experience with Native Americans so far.

When winter started to approach the Captains decided that we needed to find a friendly Indian tribe to spend the winter with. When we came upon the Mandan tribe we all thought this was the tribe we had been looking for. They were very friendly and even gave us food in return of our usual gifts to the Indians. Metal beads, medals, gems, and other trinkets like that.

The Captains found an area to build a fort for us to stay in during the winter. This fort would be called Fort Mandan in honor of the Indian tribe right next to it. We all helped build the fort and after a few weeks of intense labor we finished it. It wasn't pretty but it would do nicely.

That winter was a very cold winter. We didn't enjoy the cold but we did enjoy the fun we had. Singing around the campfires at night. Dancing to the fiddle and other things like that.

When spring rolled around we didn't want to say goodbye to our Indian friends but we had to. During the winter an Indian girl and her husband had decided to go along with us. Their names were Sacagawea and Charbonneu. Charbonneu was a French trader. Sacagawea was a Shoshone Indian who had been captured by the Mandans in a war.

And so the expedition continued. The first leg of the journey was grueling. We had to go through the Rocky mountains. During the winter we had traded our canoes for horses. That was so it would be easier to go across the mountains with all of our cargo. We didn't want to carry our canoes all the way. That would be tough.

After hard weeks of hiking we made it to the top of the Rockies. We found the head waters of the Snake River we made dugouts. Dugouts are canoes that are made by carving or burning ou the inside of a tree trunk.

After we had made enough dugouts for all of us to fit into, we found suitable water and continued our journey. This time instead of paddling against the current we were going with the current. So all we had to do was steer and hold on tight. The reason I say hold on tight is because there were a lot of rapids. Sometimes we would even have to go around the rapids by land because the current was to strong for our tiny canoes.

We made our way down the Snake River and eventually ended up finding the Shoshones. That's right the Shoshones, Sacagaweas family, Shoshones. She was thrilled to finally get home. And to make things better, she found out that her brother was the Chief! They were overjoyed to see each other.

After the family reunion, we made our way to the Columbia River. We all started to get restless. Where was the Pacific Ocean?

A few days later we had in view what looked to be the Pacific Ocean! We had arrived! But in the morning we spotted land on the other side of the water. If this was the Pacific then how could we see land on the other side? We finally concluded that the river had just gotten sooo wide that it made it look like an ocean.

So we continued our journey. A few weeks later we finally reached the Pacific Ocean! And this time we had actually found it! Wa-hoo!

But the celebrations were short lived. We realized that winter was coming and we needed a place to stay and fast. So the Captains searched for suitable places to build a fort. We finally found a spot. And it was near the Clatsop Indian tribe too. Which was a good thing because they were friendly and offered food to us. So, we built Fort Clatsop.

That winter there was hardly one day without rain. It rained and rained and RAINED! And to make matters worse it was really cold. I can't believe it didn't snow!

After a grueling winter we headed back up the Columbia River towards home. Our journey home took a whole year less than our trip going. One and a half years going, six months back. But that doesn't mean it wasn't just as hard. Because it was just as hard.

After the Rockies it was smooth sailing. Instead of paddling against the Missouri, we were paddling with it. We arrived back in St. Louis on September 23, 1806.

There were huge crowds to welcome us back! We were heroes! And guess what?! My Ma and Pa were there to welcome me back to the states too!

That day was even better than the day we found the Pacific Ocean!

The End