The Lewis And Clarke Expedition - Expedition West Album

Tracklist

1	Expedition West
2	For Your Freedom Tonight

Short intro

America Heads West. How Lewis and Clark-along with a Native American guide, Sacagawea-explored the newly expanded United States. On a gloomy December afternoon in 1803, a boat crept along the banks of the Mississippi River and landed at the mouth of the Wood River in what is now the state of Illinois. A group of men climbed out and began to set up camp under a dark canopy of oak trees. Suddenly a violent storm moved in, pelting the area with snow and hail. John Parrot, Stocktrek Images, Getty Images. Lets make a deal. Lewis chose William Clark as his co-leader for the mission. Among the firearms were two blunderbusses. Named after the Dutch words for thunder gun, the blunderbuss was unmistakable for its heavy stock, short barrel, and wide-mouthed muzzle. Lewis and Clark fired their blunderbusses as signs of arrival when entering Indian camps or villages. They were progressing roughly 20 miles a day, sometimes resorting to towing and poling their fragile vessels. Lewis described the White Cliffs area of the Breaks: I should have thought that nature had attempted here to rival the human art of masonry had I not recollected that she had first began her work. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson guided a splendid piece of foreign diplomacy through the U. Senate: the purchase of Louisiana territory from France. After the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was made, Jefferson initiated an exploration of the newly purchased land and the territory beyond the great rock mountains in the West. Louis, in the summer of 1804. The ultimate goal being to find the northwest passage to the Pacific sea and stake claim for the United States on land not yet ordained. Original air date - November 4, 1997 PBS