William Clark's Estimate of Eastern Indians in 1805

Photo: American Philosophical Society

During the long winter of 1804-1805 at Fort Mandan, William Clark painstakingly summarized what was known about the Plains Indian tribes. This enormous chart was his attempt to collect a vast amount of information into a neat, systematic format. If he only had a PC with Excel!

The chart classified 53 tribes according to 19 categories, with fragmentary information on 19 more tribes. It was formed from seven sheets pasted together, divided into 22 columns and 72 rows. The columns show the tribe’s name in English, the name they called themselves, nickname, language they speak, numbers, and information on their trade, political relations, and territory. Despite its scientific format, it was a political document, and resulted in Jefferson’s, “Statistical View of the Indian Nations Inhabiting the Territory of Louisiana,” which he published to Congress in 1806.

Captain Clark sent two copies of the chart back on the keelboat in the spring of 1805. One copy went to his brother Jonathan; the other went to the secretary of war (and it cannot be found today). This chart is at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.