An Illustrated History of the USA

Formonthstill'explo re rsrowedandsailedtheir
boatsuptheMissouri,hopingthatitwouldlead
rhcmtothe Pacifi c. Sometimest1lt'yhadtow ade
shoulder-deep in the rive r.pullingth e boatsforward
againstfast anddangerouscurre nts.Whenthe
Missouribecamerooshallowrofo llo wan yfurther.
theym archedlo r tenweeksacrossth e Rock y
Mountains,k illin gthei rhorsesfor foodan d with
only melt edsnowtod rink.Atla..rtheyreachedthe
wcstwa rd -rlowingColu mbia River .The)"tloarcd
downittoth ePacific.O n a pinetreegrowlllgbyrhc
shoreClark ca rveda message-"Will.C lar k.D ec.J.
IS05.By landfromrhcUnited ScaresinIt>U4and
ISU5."

LewisandClarkarrived back inSt.l.o uisin larc

September1806.T heyhad beenJ.WJ.ylor[WOandJ.

half yearsandhad traveled almost4,000m iles.T hey

hadfailedtofind anl'asyoverlan dro utetothe

Pacific.burth cv had shownrharrhc journcvwas

possible.T h l' yhadalsobrought backmuch usefu l

informaricnaboutboth Lo u isian aandthewestern

lands rhatla ybeyondit,

T heselandsbcvond Lo ui sian awereknown as
Oregon. T hcv stretchedfromAlaskain rhcnorthto
CaliforniaIIIthe southandinlandth rou ghth e Rocky

/

111 wt.sr 1011110 I'AlI H C

Mountainstoth e undefinedborde rsofLouisiana .In

1R05fourcountriesclaim edtoOWI1O regon -Russia.

Spain , Britain andtill'Unit edStates.

RussiaownedAlaska ,andSpainruled California.

HutinO regon theBrit ishandtheAIIlt'Ticanswerein

thestrongestpo sition ,Bothalreadyhadtr adin g

postsscatt er edalongO regon'scoasts andT1Yt'TS.

Soonthey had mort'.At thes epostst r adersbought

beaverand other anim al fursfromAmerindian and

Europeantra ppa'S.Such tr ap pcrswerecalled

"mountain-men ' becauserhcvspelltth eir lives

wanderingth e m ountain sofOregonandCalifornia

ill searchofturs.

By the183tktheBritishholdmort'scnlcmcnrs and

trading po st sIIIOreg o nrhantheAmericans.

Ameri can politicalk 'Hk rsbegan(0fear [hatBritain

w o u ldsoongaincompletecontrolofthearea.T o

p reve nt rbistheymadeg rcatc tfo rrstopersuademo rt'

American s toSUr[farmsinO regon.

Atfi rstAmerican str ave lin gto O regonwentbysh ip.

T hey sailedfromrhc cast coastportsoftheU n ited

States.aro un dSouth Americaandup th e longPacific

coast.Thcjcum cv wasexpensiveandit last ed(or

months. Settlersbq~alltrave lin gto O rego nbyland

inIHJ1.Theyusuallysetoutfromlnd cpcn dcu cc.

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