Home >  Local News

Sunday, July 13, 2003

1. July 4, 1803: U.S. government announces the Louisiana Purchase, an acquisition of 820,000 square miles for three cents an acre. The deal doubles the size of the United States.

2. July 5, 1803: U.S. Army Captain Meriwether Lewis leaves Washington, D.C., and stops in Philadelphia and Harper's Ferry to gather information and provisions before arriving in Pittsburgh.

3. July 15, 1803: Lewis arrives in Pittsburgh and waits for six weeks while a drunken boat builder assembles the keelboat.

4. Aug. 31, 1803: Lewis leaves Pittsburgh with a crew of 11 men and stops at Brunot's Island, three miles south of the Point, where he demonstrates his air gun to the amazement of locals.

5. October 14-26, 1803: William Clark, York and several young Kentucky woodsmen meet Lewis in Clarksville in the Indiana Territory, just below the falls of the Ohio River.

6. November 20, 1803: through March 1804 The expedition heads up the Mississippi River. Lewis and Clark decide they need more men to maneuver the boats up the big river.

The men winter at Camp Wood, also called Camp Dubois on the east bank of the Mississippi River, upstream from St. Louis. Lewis gathers supplies for 45 men during frequent trips to St. Louis.

7. May 16-20, 1804: Expedition members rendezvous with Lewis at St. Charles, Mo. and prepare boats.

8. May 21, 1804: Expedition departs from St. Charles, Mo.

9. Aug. 20, 1804: Sgt. Charles Floyd, the only man not to survive the journey, dies of acute appendicitis near present day Sioux City, Iowa

10. Nov. 2, 1804: Amid the Arikaras, Mandans and Hidatsas, men begin building Fort Mandan. Toussaint Charbonneau is hired as an interpreter.

11. Feb. 11, 1805: Charbonneau's wife, Sacagawea, gives birth to a son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau

12. April 7, 1805: A return party departs down the Missouri River with the keelboat, taking plant and animal specimens for President Jefferson. The expedition, including the infant boy, leaves Fort Mandan, heading up the Missouri River.

13. April 29, 1805: The hunters take their first specimen of a grizzly bear and the first detailed description of this animal appears in the journals. "It is astonishing to see the wounds they will bear before they can be put to death," Clark wrote. The men shot their first grizzly bear in Montana.

14. June 2, 1805: Expedition reaches the mouth of the Marias River in Montana. Most men think it is the true Missouri River but the captains disagree.

15. June 13, 1805: Lewis reaches the Great Falls of the Missouri River in Montana; the Mandans had described the falls as an important landmark.

16. June 14, 1805: A grizzly bear chases Lewis into the Missouri River in Montana.

17. June 14 through July 14, 1805: Expedition portages boats and gear around the five falls of the Missouri River

18. Aug. 17, 1805: Sacagawea reunites joyfully with her brother, an Indian chief named Cameahwait, at a spot now called Camp Fortunate in Montana. Clark asks the Shoshones, who are Sacagawea's people, for guides and horses to cross the Rocky Mountains.

19. Sept. 1 through Oct. 6, 1805: Expedition crosses the Bitterroot Mountain range of the Rocky Mountains. The mountains form much of the border between Montana and Idaho.

20. Nov. 15, 1805: Expedition arrives at the Columbia River.

21. Dec. 7, 1805: Men reach the Pacific and begin building Fort Clatsop in Astoria, Ore.

22. March 23, 1806: Expedition leaves Fort Clatsop on its homeward journey.

23. July 3, 1806: Expedition departs from Travelers' Rest in Lolo, Mont. and breaks into two groups. Lewis and nine men head East to the Great Falls of the Missouri River. With only three men, Lewis explores the Marias River. Clark travels southeast, passing Camp Fortunate and then on to explore the Yellowstone River.

24. Aug. 12, 1806: Entire expedition reunites on Little Knife River in North Dakota.

25. Sept. 23, 1806: Arriving back in St. Louis, Mo., men of the expedition receive a hearty welcome.