Cannon Beach Treasure Company
255 N Hemlock St Suite B-1
(right across from Bruce's Candy Kitchen)
Cannon Beach, Oregon

503.436.1626

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The Lewis and Clark Expedition
and the Cannon Beach Connection

Ocean in view! O! The joy!
Captain William Clark on November 7, 1805

While we're busy preparing the information for this page, please enjoy the following courtesy of wikipedia.com! And, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be the first to hear when this page is posted!

The Lewis and Clark Expedition

While we're busy preparing the information for this page, please enjoy the following courtesy of wikipedia.com! And, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be the first to hear when this page is posted!

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the first United States expedition (1804–1806) to the Pacific Coast. Though Jefferson stated in one letter the goal was to find a "direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce" (the Northwest Passage), the expedition actually had several goals. In order to make a firm claim of “discovery” to the Pacific Northwest and compete with the British for control of land and the fur trade, Jefferson had the men follow the rivers, map them, and collect scientific data. Jefferson also placed special importance on declaring U.S. sovereignty over the tribes along the Missouri River and getting an accurate sense of the resources in the Louisiana Purchase. Although the expedition did make notable achievements in science, scientific research itself was not the main goal behind the mission.

There were 33 people, including 29 participants in training at the 1803–1804 Camp Dubois winter staging area in Illinois Territory, near present day Hartford, Illinois. They left on May 14, 1804, and met up with Lewis in Saint Charles, Missouri, a short time later; the corps followed the Missouri River westward. Soon they passed La Charrette, the last Euro-American settlement on the Missouri River. The expedition followed the Missouri through what is now Kansas City, Missouri, and Omaha, Nebraska. During the final week of August, Lewis and Clark reached the edge of the Great Plains, a place abounding with elk, deer, bison, and beavers.

In the winter of 1804–05, the party built Fort Mandan, near present-day Washburn, North Dakota. The Americans quickly continued westward (upriver), and camped for the winter in the Mandan nation's territory. Here they met a French-Canadian fur trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau, and his young Shoshone wife, Sakakawea, or Sacajawea, who helped them converse with the many native tribes they encountered. They followed the Missouri to its headwaters, and over the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass. In canoes, they descended the mountains by the Clearwater River, the Snake River, and the Columbia River, past Celilo Falls and past what is now Portland, Oregon at the meeting of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Lewis used William Robert Broughton's 1792 notes and maps to find the stratovolcano mountain for navigation.

The expedition faced its second bitter winter, and vote on whether to camp on the south side of the Columbia river (modern Astoria, Oregon), building Fort Clatsop. The Corps turned home on March 23, 1806, using by canoes, and later by land. On July 3, after crossing the Continental Divide, the Corps split into two teams so Lewis could explore the Marias River. Lewis and Clark stayed separated until they reached the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers on August 11, along with Clark's. Once reunited, the Corps was able to return home quickly via the Missouri River. They reached St. Louis on September 23, 1806.

The Corps met their objective of reaching the Pacific, mapping and establishing their presence for a legal claim to the land. They established diplomatic relations and trade with at least two dozen indigenous nations. They did not find the Northwest Passage.

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