The Franklin Mint History Of The United States, 1776-1973
Manufacturer
The Franklin Mint
CultureAmerican
DateNo Date
MediumSilver
DimensionsOverall: 1 3/4 in. (45 mm.)
Credit LineGift of Dr. Eugene F. Poutasse
Object number76.81.30
On View
Not on viewThe 1805 medal: Lewis and Clark Reach the Pacific
The Lewis and Clark Expedition sought to accomplish three things: Discover a commercial water route to the Pacific Ocean (the long-sought "Northwest Passage"); find out what the newly purchased Louisiana Territory was like; and strengthen our claims to the Oregon Territory which had previously been visited by Robert Gray in 1792.
To head the expedition, President Jefferson selected his private secretary, Meriwether Lewis, who in turn asked William Clark, younger brother of George Rogers Clark (see 1779 medal) to share the command. Both had served under General Anthony Wayne in Ohio.
Supplies were obtained and men recruited. After spending the winter in camp near the mouth of the Missouri River, Lewis and Clark left St. Louis on May 14, 1804 with 32 soldiers and 10 craftsmen, hunters and interpreters in two wooden canoes and a 55-foot keelboat. One of the interpreters took along his Indian bride, Sacajawea, and their infant son.
By November they had reached the area of the Mandan Indians near present day Bismarck, North Dakota, where they camped until Spring. From there they traveled by boat to the Rocky Mountains where Sacajawea, by the greatest of coincidence, met her brother, chief of a band of Shoshone Indians, who supplied them with horses to cross the Rockies. The mountains were not one narrow ridge as they had thought, but they fortunately made contact with the Snake River and rowed down it in newly built boats to the Columbia, arriving at the tide waters of that river on November 7, 1805, in sight of the Pacific coast.
After spending the winter on the Pacific coast, they began their return journey in March, 1806, arriving in St. Louis on September 23. They had accomplished much. Meticulous records were kept and specimens of what the land contained were brought back. Their remarkable trip through largely unexplored territory, over 7,000 miles, filled with many hardships, had been accomplisehed with the loss of only one man who probably died of appendicitis.
