National Parks that Preserve and Commemorate the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition

Big Hole National Battlefield, MT: William Clark passed within one mile of what was to become the Big Hole National Battlefield in early September 1805 on his return journey. Big Hole National Battlefield is today a memorial to the people who fought and died here on August 9 and 10, 1877; combatants in a five month conflict between the US Army and Nez Perce Indians that came to be called the Nez Perce War of 1877. First created as a National Monument in 1910, the Battlefield was enlarged in 1939, established as the Big Hole National Battlefield in 1965 and incorporated with Nez Perce National Historical Park in 1992. The Battlefield is now part of a unique National Park consisting of 38 different sites located in five states; Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, ND: Fort Union Trading Post is located just upstream from one of the most significant features in the west, the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. It was at this confluence that Lewis and Clark stepped off the map, and entered uncharted territory. One of President Jefferson's instructions to the leaders of the expedition was to investigate the prospects for trapping and trade. John Jacob Astor used the Lewis and Clark journals to determine profitable places in the west to establish the fur trade. Fort Union was the field headquarters of Astor’s fur empire, on the upper Missouri River. Lewis and Clark reached the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers on the 25th of April of 1805, spending several days examining the area they called "this long wished for spot." On their return in 1806 Lewis and Clark divided the Corps of Discovery for two separate explorations of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. They were to meet up and rejoin at the confluence of the two rivers, but Clark arrived first then moved downriver to escape the mosquitoes before Lewis arrived. While hunting east of modern-day Williston, ND in 1806 Lewis was accidentally shot in the buttocks by Pierre Cruzatte, who apparently mistook his commanding officer for an elk. Lewis spent much of the next few weeks traveling in a canoe, lying on his stomach. Several campsites used by the Corps are within driving distance of Fort Union Trading Post, though none are accessible and most are now under Lake Sakakawea.

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, OR, WA: William Clark and a small party investigated the Willamette River (which they called the “Multnomah”) on April 3, 1806. The trail of the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery flowed through the Portland/Vancouver basin on the Columbia River. Their journals suggest that the former prairie and wetlands of the Vancouver National Historic Reserve was a stopping place on the trip down the river in November of 1805 and on the return trip up the river in March of 1806. Lewis & Clark called the Portland/Vancouver basin, " Wapato Valley ", after the root of the Arrowhead (wapato) plant. The Vancouver National Historic Reserve is located on a former area of prairie and wetlands that formed a highly productive location for native food resources. In the mid-19th century, this place was called "Fort Plain" through its association with the Hudson 's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver. Fort Plain has been identified as a Lewis and Clark stopping place associated with their travels down the Columbia River on November 4, 1805, and a campsite during their travels up the Columbia on March 30, 1806.

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, WV: Meriwether Lewis relied on the U.S. Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry for guns and hardware that would meet the unique requirements of his transcontinental expedition. On March 16, 1803, Lewis arrived in Harpers Ferry with a letter from Secretary of War Henry Dearborn addressed to Armory superintendent Joseph Perkins: Sir: You will be pleased to make such arms & Iron work, as requested by the Bearer Captain Meriwether Lewis and to have them completed with the least possible delay. In addition to procuring 15 rifles, 15 powder horns, 30 bullet molds, 30 ball screws, extra rifle and musket locks, gunsmith's repair tools, several dozen tomahawks, and 24 large knives, Lewis also attended to the construction of a collapsible iron boat frame of his own design. The strange craft was comprised of an iron frame which came apart in sections, over which was stretched a covering of hide. Lewis expected that a light, substitute boat of some kind would be needed when the Missouri River got too shallow for the heavy wooden boats to navigate. The Armory mechanics assigned to the project, however, had considerable difficulty assembling the iron frame, and Lewis was forced to prolong his Harpers Ferry stay from the week he had planned to over a month. Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers in the states of West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland.

Independence National Historical Park, PA: Independence National Historical Park, located in downtown (called “ Center City ”), Philadelphia, is often referred to as the birthplace of our nation. Many sites located within this Park’s boundaries have a Lewis and Clark connection. The American Philosophical Society, a scientific organization, serves as the repository for the Journals that were kept on their voyage of discovery. Meriwether Lewis was also made a member of that organization. The Second Bank of the United States houses a portrait of Dr. Benjamin Rush who advised Meriwether Lewis on medical matters prior to the voyage west. The Second Bank also displays what are considered to be the most true to life portraits of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Additionally, located in the main banking room of this building is a clock that was designed by Isaiah Lukens who also designed the smokeless, soundless air gun that Lewis and Clark took west. President of the Second Bank of the United States was Nicholas Biddle who edited Lewis and Clark ’s Journals and oversaw the painful process of bringing the Journals to press. The second floor of Independence Hall at one time housed the museum of Charles Willson Peale. In his museum were displayed many of the specimens that Lewis and Clark brought back from the West.

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, LA: The park visitor center is in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans. This center interprets the history of New Orleans and the diverse cultures of Louisiana 's Mississippi Delta region. It was in New Orleans that the Louisiana territory was transferred to the United States from France. A transfer ceremony was held in New Orleans on November 29, 1803. Since the Louisiana territory had never officially been turned over to the French, the Spanish took down their flag, and the French raised theirs. The following day, General James Wilkinson accepted possession of New Orleans for the United States, ultimately setting the stage for the Lewis and Clark exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. The park consists of six physically separate sites and a park headquarters located in southeastern Louisiana.

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, MO: The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri, commemorates President Thomas Jefferson's vision of the continental destiny of the United States, evidenced by his sponsorship of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In December 1803, Clark established "Camp River Dubois" on the Wood River at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, north of St. Louis, Missouri. On March 9, 1804, Lewis attended a special ceremony in St. Louis, during which the Upper Louisiana Territory was transferred to the United States. All the land from the Mississippi River to the tops of the Rocky Mountains now officially belonged to the United States. Two months later the expedition was ready to begin. Clark and the men went to St. Charles, Missouri, where Lewis joined them a week later.

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, ND: The Hidatsa were living along the Knife and Missouri Rivers when European-American explorers arrived in the eighteenth century. Living in earthlodges, the Hidatsa occupied the hub of a prosperous intertribal trade network. Three villages on the Knife River were the center of population for the Hidatsa when the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived in October 1804. One of the villages was the home of Sacagawea and her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau. Not long after, traveling artists such as Karl Bodmer and George Catlin visually documented village life in the early 1800’s. After the smallpox epidemic of 1837, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara joined together to become the Three Affiliated Tribes.

Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, OR, WA: President George W. Bush signed into law a plan to create the new Lewis & Clark National Historical Park by incorporating state parks in Washington and Oregon along with the current Fort Clatsop National Memorial Park. The sites preserved in these parks allow you to walk where Lewis and Clark and the rest of the Corps of Discovery walked. These sites embody the stories of hardship and danger, of surprising collaboration and adaptations, and of exploration and discovery. Fort Clatsop commemorates the 1805-06 winter encampment of the 33-member Lewis and Clark Expedition. A 1955 community-built replica of the explorers' 50'x50' Fort Clatsop is the focus of the park. The fort, historic canoe landing, and spring are nestled in the coastal forests and wetlands of the Coast Range as it merges with the Columbia River Estuary. There are approximately 2 miles of hiking trails, through woodlands, available. The park is located approximately 5 miles south of Astoria, Oregon. The Salt Works unit commemorates the expedition's salt-making activities. Salt obtained from seawater was essential to the explorers' winter at Fort Clatsop and their journey back to the United States in 1806. This site is located in the city of Seaside, Oregon.

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, IA, ID, IL, KS, MO, MT, ND, NE, OR, SD, WA: In 1804, Meriwether Lewis & William Clark began a voyage of discovery with 45 men, a keelboat, two pirogues, and a dog. They departed from Camp Wood located in what was to become Illinois. President Jefferson had long dreamed of what lay to the west of the young United States – what animals, plants, minerals, what route for eastern trade would his expedition reveal? The President had privately requested Congress to fund the expedition shortly before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Lewis & Clark were ordered to write accounts of all they did, each species encountered, details of cultures they met, maps of the land - everything. They traveled over a three-year period through lands that later became 11 states.

Most of the trail follows the Missouri & Columbia Rivers. Much has changed in 200 years but trail portions remain intact. At 3700 miles, Lewis & Clark NHT is the second longest of the 23 National Scenic & National Historic Trails. It begins at Hartford, IL & passes through portions of MO, KS, IA, NE, SD, ND, MT, ID, OR, & WA.

Many people follow the trail by auto; others find adventure in the sections that encourage boating, biking, or hiking. You can still see the White Cliffs in Montana as Lewis & Clark did. You may stand where they stood looking over the rolling plains at Spirit Mound in South Dakota. You might meet the descendants of the people who hosted Lewis & Clark all along the trail.

Missouri National Recreational River, NE, SD: Lewis and Clark passed through the region of the park on their outbound and return journeys to the West. There was a time there was just the river. Then people came. People and the river have been connected ever since. And now it's your turn. Missouri National Recreational River offers natural beauty: the forested buff-colored chalkstone bluffs to gently rolling range bottomland; the brilliant white of migrating pelicans to the rich blues of prairie asters; the soaring majesty of resident bald eagles to fleeting glimpses of the wily red fox. It offers an exciting past for your enjoyment and enrichment, from Plains Indian tribes to Lewis and Clark to steamboat captains such as Grant Marsh. Here, you can experience the dynamic character of the river's ever-changing nature, with its islands, shifting sandbars, sloughs, and treacherous, deadly snags. Both the upper 39-mile reach and the lower 59-mile reach along the Nebraska-South Dakota border combine to form one of few sections of this once vast ecosystem along the "Big Muddy" that remains in a relatively natural state.

Natchez Trace Parkway, AL, MS, TN: On October 11, 1809, Meriwether Lewis died at Grinder's Stand, a way station along the Old Natchez Trace in Tennessee. Many historians believe that he committed suicide due to depression stemming from personal and career problems. Another popular belief continues that he was murdered, perhaps by representatives of his political enemies. To this day it is not completely certain what happened. It is known that Lewis died of two gunshot wounds, one to the head, the other to the chest. He was only 35 years old. The explorer was buried not far from where he died, and a monument was erected by the state of Tennessee in 1848. The site of Grinder’s Stand, Lewis’s grave and monument became a National Monument in 1925. Today, visitors traveling along the Natchez Trace Parkway can pay tribute to the man who led the Voyage of Discovery to the Pacific Ocean.

The 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway commemorates an ancient trail that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River to salt licks in today’s central Tennessee. Over the centuries, the Choctaw, Chickasaw and other American Indians left their marks on the Trace. The Natchez Trace experienced its heaviest use from 1785 to 1820 by the “Kaintuck” boatmen that floated the Ohio and Miss. rivers to markets in Natchez and New Orleans. They sold their cargo and boats and began the trek back north on foot to Nashville and points beyond. Today, visitors can experience this National Scenic Byway and All-American Road through driving, hiking, biking, horseback riding and camping.

Nez Perce National Historical Park, ID, MT,OR, WA: For thousands of years the valleys, prairies and plateaus of the inland northwest have been home to the Nimiipuu or Nez Perce. When Lewis and Clark entered Nez Perce country in 1805, the tribe was one of the most influential groups on the Columbia River plateau. Perhaps the most important sojourns the explorers would make during their journey were the weeks they spent with the Nez Perce. In 1805, after an arduous journey across the Bitterroot Mountains, the Nez Perce welcomed the expedition providing food, supplies, and information about the rivers to the Pacific Ocean. Upon their return to Nez Perce country in the spring of 1806, the expedition retrieved the valuable horses that the Nez Perce had cared for and waited for the snows on the Bitterroots to melt. While staying with the Nez Perce, the expedition enjoyed a month of hospitality among the Nez Perce, forming bonds of amity and friendship that would be challenged and tested in the coming years.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.: Thomas Jefferson-political philosopher, architect, musician, book collector, scientist, horticulturist, diplomat, inventor, and third President of the United States-looms large in any discussion of what Americans are as a people. Jefferson left to the future not only ideas but also a great body of practical achievements. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial stands as a tribute to this great American; “Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.", and the man who inspired the westward expansion of this nation. Jefferson ’s purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803 doubled the size of this nation and opened a vast unexplored continent to Americans. Jefferson chose Meriwether Lewis his personnel secretary and close friend to lead an expedition into the uncharted territory. Lewis asked William Clark to join the Corps of Discovery and to share in commanding the expedition. Jefferson had instructed both Lewis and Clark to keep detailed diaries documenting their experiences and to explore, map and chronicle everything of interest.