I have been reading, "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American West", by Ambrose Stephen. It's about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, primarily through the eyes of Lewis.

The author begins developing the story by taking the reader through Lewis' birth in Virginia in 1774, his formative years as a young man eager to get an education, and his early manhood, (at the age of 18 he bore the responsibility as the head of the family estate).

Something, I didn't know or remember was that before he embarked on the famous expedition, Lewis had served as the personal secretary to Jefferson and even lived in the Whitehouse with Jefferson (who was single). Jefferson was a mentor to Lewis. It struck me that that alone might have been considered a noteworthy accomplishment by some.

But there was much more to come. I felt the excitement that Lewis and Jefferson must have felt as they spent time discussing and planning the expedition. Among other things that needed to be done, Jefferson had to provide for funding. He was not a spendthrift as President, but he felt this endeavor to be worthy. So, he set about trying to convince congress. Jefferson meanwhile was working on another project, an offer to Napoleon for the United States to purchase New Orleans. Napoleon offered not only the city of New Orleans, but also France's whole claim to lands known as Louisiana. Jefferson took the offer. Curiously, neither Napoleon or the Americans had an exact mapping or knew the exact extent of the land involved in the transaction. Louisiana was vaguely construed the area encompassing the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

With the successful completion of that enterprise, the purchase of Louisiana, Jefferson had even more reason to request funding from Congress for the exploration of the recently purchased lands. Jefferson also envisioned that a water passage to the Pacific, the so-called Northwest Passage, could be found.

When congress did approve the trip, Lewis received basically a carte blanche, letter of credit for supplies and expenses. (What's new, the expenses of the trip were greatly underestimated.) Reading about Lewis' purchases of supplies, and deciding on what would be needed for the trip, I could only imagine what would have been like to buy anything he wanted. And I thought of my own anticipation before trips trying to pack light and usually not successfully. He must have been trying to think of everything that would be needed, reviewing what he had bought and trying to think if there was anything else they would need. The list included, nourishment, medicine, journals, arms (rifles and ammunition, etc.) for hunting and protection, items for trading with the Indians, many tools of various sorts, and what not, for many months travel and camping. And then packing it; it amazed me to think of all of that being packed into a boat.

The first of the boats purchased could hold many tons of goods, it was not one of the sort of canoes that I had always pictured them traveling in. I must admit I'm not very familiar with boats and that I had a hard time picturing the vessels although the book describes them in some detail. I would like to see pictures, or better yet see them in person.

Waiting on a drunken boat builder to complete the boat he had ordered caused Lewis several weeks delay. But he had to wait, he was dependent upon that fellow's services because no one else around had the skill to finish the job. I could feel his anxiousness to get going and his frustration. He had a long way to go before winter set in. It was already August (of 1803).

By the time he did get going, (he was on the Ohio River at this point), the river was too low for easy passage and the boat had to be dragged at several points. He then purchased some canoes to help share the load. There would be several more boat purchases along the journey. They also made some boats.

As part of his preparations, Lewis had also spent a good bit of time learning about botany, and how to make geographical measurements using the sun and stars for references. Jefferson wanted him to keep records about a vast array of subjects including not only records of new plants and animals seen, and the geographic records, but also detailed descriptions about the various Indian groups and their trading practices.

An interesting note about Clark: Lewis chose Clark to accompany him and wanted him to have equal position with him as a captain. He hired Clark and sent notice of his request that Clark be made a captain. But when the papers finally came through, he found that Clark had been designated as Lieutenant. Lewis told Clark that he wanted him to be a captain and they didn't tell the crew any different.

It must have seemed like such a grand adventure as Lewis set out from Pittsburgh. And they must all have been filled with excitement when Lewis and crew met up with Clark and his men along the Ohio River, and again when they reached the Mississippi, and really at some many points along the way until they finally achieved their goal and reached the Pacific.

Not only Lewis, but Clark and the crew kept journals. One thing one can't help noticing in reading the various excerpts is the spelling and punctuation. The spelling was typical of the spelling of the time, there were no absolute standards. Even the well educated found it difficult to choose the proper spelling of words. I found the many variations in spelling for the same word rather amusing. But then I thought about the fact they would not have been carrying around dictionaries (and certainly did not have spell checkers). I'm not sure that there were dictionaries yet.

Much of what we know about their journey is through what they recorded in those journals. Naturally, there were many frustrations and difficulties along the way. There were dangerous encounters with Indians, with the elements, with grizzly bears, and mosquitoes, sickness, injuries, hunger, cold, anxieties and uncertainties about where they were and which way to proceed.

In one way, I was impressed with Lewis' bravery over all, and in particular in encountering the Indians. I just wonder what those meetings would have been like. I suppose that he must have had a forceful personality to not only make the initial approaches but to be welcomed and to continue in the company of all of the different Indians they met. In other words, I think they must have liked and respected him.

I could admire his bravery, but then again, I was saddened by the way Lewis and the rest of the party viewed and treated the Indians. For one, he was trying sell the story that they, as representatives of the United States, were just friendly visitors. Jefferson and Lewis had fixed their stories as to what they would tell the Indian tribes. Lewis had his agenda and he stuck to it, pretty much. One version of the story was that Lewis's group were merely on a scientific expedition (they were, but that was only partially true), and another was that they were just hoping to establish trade with the Indians.

Invitations were extended to the chiefs to meet their "father" Jefferson. They urged peace and cooperation between all of the other Indians and with the Americans. I wonder if their words were met with any skepticism by the Indians? If so, rightly so. It would nice to have a record of those visits through the Indian's eyes.

I felt saddened especially when they reached the Pacific Northwest learning that the Indian tribes that they spent time with there would mostly die off in not too many years, due to small pox.

I really disliked reading what Jefferson told someone in a letter, essentially that he was hoping to pacify the Indians by creating dependence on the United States through trade. He said, if the United States could put the Indians in the position of buying trade goods on credit, they would likely soon go into debt and then they would likely pay off they debts with their land.

The Indian way of life, including their notion of "ownership" of land, being a sort of fluid thing, would soon be coming to an end. In some ways the Lewis and Clark expedition might have served the purpose of notifying the Indians of the changes that were coming their way.

It would be easy to romanticize that way of life, but then again they were warring peoples, not only fighting white men but also among themselves. As one of their young men remarked fighting was their way of proving their bravery, how else could they do it? It's difficult, if not impossible, to imagine the Indian way of life continuing the way it had been.