The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

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Calumet Bluffs

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LA CHARETTE

ST.LOUIS

ST. CHARLES

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i c t o f L o u i s i a n a

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ARIKARA

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Lewis and Clark

Lewis

Clark

Ordway and Gass

Support camps

Encounter with Indians

Battle

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YANKTON

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PAWNEE

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Lewis and Clark, 1804–1806

185

Santa Fé

SOUTH

SEA

Mer du Nord West

Hudson’s

Bay

Salt Lake

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Peter Pond, 1784 R.

Naberk

istagen

R.

Pond believed it was possible to travel by boat nearly to the Pacific, via

the Missouri and “Naberkistagen Rivers.” But Pond’s map included

some intervening “Stony” mountains between the two rivers.

Santa Fé

Kansas

Hudson’s

Bay

Slave Lake

River of

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Missouri

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Stoney Mts.

Morse, 1797

Morse imagined that the Missouri nearly connected with the “River

of the West.” He did not realize that the “Stoney” (Rocky) Mountains

were in the way.

Yet Lewis, seemingly oblivious to the boulder-strewn

streams and deep ravines that impeded his portage, remained

optimistic. On August 10 he wrote that if the Columbia River

beyond the mountains was like what he had so far encoun-

tered,“a communication across the continent by water will be

practicable and safe.”Then he began the long climb into the

Bitterroot Mountains, eventually coming to the Continental

Divide near the Lemhi Pass. Beyond the summit, Lewis saw an

endless range of “unknown formidable snow clad Mountains.”

A navigable water route through the Rockies did not exist.

On December 5, they spotted the Pacific, built Fort

Clatsop, and spent the winter there. The following spring

they commenced the trek home. They divided into several

parties to explore more of the Rockies. On September 23,

1806, they reached St. Louis.

Question for Discussion

■Maps convey information; they also indicate what mat-

tered to the mapmakers. Compare the most common

maps used nowadays—such as those found at

mapquest.com—with the eighteenth-century maps pro-

vided in this section. What do the maps—then and now—

show about the people who made and used them?