12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1898. 



THE PLANTS OF LEWIS AND CLARK'S EXPEDITION ACROSS THE CON- 

 TINENT, 1804-1806. 



BY THOMAS MEEHAN. 



The expedition of Captains Merewether Lewis and William 

 Clark, from what was then the village of St. Louis, to the sources 

 of the Mississippi and across to the Pacific Coast, was one of the 

 marvels in the early history of the American Republic. The inte- 

 rior of the continent was utterly unknown. That it was surely in- 

 habited by wild races of men, and that wild beasts roamed through 

 its trackless forests, comprised almost all that could be told about 

 it. A little band of some half hundred men was detailed to explore 

 these dark corners of our recently acquired territory in face of the 

 fact that they would be lost to home and civilization for several 

 years. Captain Lewis started from Washington to take charge of 

 the party on the 5th of July, 1803. They crossed the continent, 

 reaching the mouth of the Columbia River, and with the loss of but 

 one man, returned and arrived at St. Louis on the 23d of Septem- 

 ber, 1806. To carry a band of men such as he commanded safely 

 through a journey of so many miles, over a period of three years, 

 and in a strange country inhabited by wild people whose habits and 

 character were wholly unknown, and where the subsistence for his 

 men must have been a continual source of anxiety, called for cool- 

 ness, good judgment, and executive ability of no mean order. It is 

 a question whether the services of these great men — Lewis, and his 

 able coadjutor, Clark — have ever been fully appreciated by the 

 country they served. To aid somewhat in doing full justice to the 

 memories of these great explorers has been one of the inducements 

 to prepare the present paper, which it is hoped may also be regarded 

 as a contribution to botanical history. 



The idea of exploration originated with Jefferson. In 1792 he 

 tried to interest the American Philosophical Society in the plan. 

 It was approved, and it was decided to place the expedition in 

 charge of Andre Michaux. Reasons of State policy arising out of 

 our relation with Michaux's country, caused its abandonment. 

 Lewis was Jefferson's private Secretary, and under him the expedi- 



