Pitched Unfairly

Corps of Discovery Account review for Thomas Jefferson

Your orders, carried to the Pacific.

St. Louis · 23 September 1806 · Period: 28 months

St. Louis Pacific

The goals you set

Your first goal: a water route to the Pacific.

Your words, June 1803. We graded ourselves against them, not against our miles.

To Meriwether Lewis esq. · Washington, June 1803

G1

The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it as … may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce.

  • G2… observations of latitude & longitude, at all remarkable points …
  • G3… the names of the nations & their numbers …
  • G4… vegetable productions, especially those not of the U.S. …
  • G5… the animals of the country, especially those not known in the U.S. …

Th: Jefferson

Results against your goals

Three green, one amber, and one passage that doesn't exist.

You asked for

“the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent”

What happened

It does not exist. The best route needs 340 miles by land, 140 of them over mountains under snow.

We mapped the best route that does exist. Page 07 has the terrain.

The route

8,000 miles, 28 months, one box we couldn't tick.

Rocky Mountains Pacific St. Louis Fort MandanLemhi PassFort Clatsop

Value, in your terms

You asked for things not known in the U.S.

300

species new to Western science178 plants · 122 animals

Every one already had a name in someone's language.

No. 001 · Corps of Discovery

Prairie dog

Cynomys ludovicianus

Lewis called it the barking squirrel. Shipped live from Fort Mandan. Arrived live.

No. 014 · Corps of Discovery

Grizzly bear

Ursus arctos horribilis

Not shipped live.

No. 097 · Corps of Discovery

Bitterroot

Lewisia rediviva

Named for the client's secretary.

Budget against actual

We ran $36,222 over. Contingencies were $87.

Estimate, 1803$2,500

Indian presents$696Transportation$430Hunters$300Camp gear$255Provisions$224Instruments$217Silver coin$100Contingencies$87Arms$81Medicine$55Packs$55
Contingencies: $87

Actual, War Dept.$38,722.25

and it keeps going
Variance
+1,449%
Men asked for
10 to 12
People who left Fort Mandan
33

What didn't work

There is no water route. There are the Rockies.

What we did about it: bought 29 Shoshone horses and hired a guide the men called Old Toby.

Lemhi Pass · 7,373 ft One short portage 340 miles by land St. LouisPacific

What didn't work, continued

One man lost, one hungry crossing, one fight we can't undo.

WhenWhat happenedWhat we didStatus
Aug 1804 Sgt. Charles Floyd dies, most likely of a burst appendix. No surgeon alive could have saved him. Buried with honors on the bluff that now carries his name. The men elect Patrick Gass sergeant. One loss in 28 months
Sep 1805 The Lolo Trail: early snow, no game. The men eat colts and portable soup. The Nez Perce at Weippe Prairie feed the Corps, and keep its horses through the winter. Recovered, with help
Jul 1806 Two Medicine River: a fight with young Piegan Blackfeet men over guns and horses. Two of them are killed. Lewis's party rides through the night to get clear. Against your "friendly & conciliatory" goal, this is our worst result. Our failure

What we learned about your new territory

Every hard part was solved by people who already lived there.

“A woman with a party of men is a token of peace.”

Clark, on Sacagawea, October 1805
  1. What is up the river? Mandan and Hidatsa A winter of councils, corn, and the route ahead, falls included.
  2. How do we get horses? Lemhi Shoshone Cameahwait, chief and Sacagawea's brother, trades the horses that cross the Divide.
  3. Which way over? Old Toby, Shoshone Guides the Corps north and over the Bitterroots.
  4. We are starving. Nez Perce Food at Weippe Prairie, and the horses kept safe all winter.
  5. Where do we winter? Clatsop Neighbors, trade, and the name on the fort.

Roadmap

Next: brief you in person, then print the map.

  1. Sep 1806 · St. Louis Back, with our papers and baggage
  2. You are here Winter 1806 · Washington Report to you in person, with Sheheke of the Mandan

Prospectus: 1807Shipped: 1814

The renewal

Renew the account: pay the men in money and land.

  • 2xpayFor every man, for every month served
  • 320acres eachFor the sergeants and privates
  • 1,600acres eachFor the two captains

DecisionGranted, 3 March 1807