Klem — The History of Science in St. Louis. 89 



terprise, which contemplated the organization of the fur 

 trade from the Great Lakes to the Pacific and by way of 

 the Sandwich Islands to China and India. He founded at 

 the month of the Columbia river a settlement, named As- 

 toria, which was to serve as a central depot. However, 

 this gigantic undertaking was frustrated through a series 

 of disasters and Astoria seized and occupied by the Brit- 

 ish in 1812. To carry out his scheme, Mr. Astor organ- 

 ized two expeditions, one to go by sea and the other by 

 land along the route followed by Lewis and Clark. The 

 overland "expedition left St. Louis under the leadership 

 of Wilson P. Hunt, of St. Louis. Two naturalists availed 

 themselves of this opportunity to visit the upper Mis- 

 souri, John Bradbury and Thomas Nuttall. 



Bradbury 8 had been commissioned in 1809 by the 

 Botanical Society of Liverpool to make some researches 

 into the plant life of the United States. It was then 

 quite the fashion among botanists to collect living plants 

 and cultivate them in gardens, many eventually finding 

 their way to Europe. 



Arriving in this country during the summer of 1809, 

 Bradbury, having letters of introduction to Jefferson, 

 visited the latter at Monticello. Acting upon Jefferson's 

 advice, he decided to make St. Louis the center of his 

 explorations instead of New Orleans, as he had orig- 

 inally intended. He arrived in St. Louis on the last day 

 of 1809, and, after the necessary inquiries and prepara- 



of America in the years 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814; or, The first Ameri- 

 can settlement on the Pacific. 1854. 



Chittenden, H. M. The American fur trade of the far west. 1: 

 163-246. 1902. 



e Bradbury, John. Travels in the interior of America in the years 

 1809, 1810, and 1811. 2nd ed. 1819. 



Short, C. W. Transylvania Jour. Med. 34: 12-13. 1836. 



Britten, Jas., and Boulger, G. S. Biographical index to British and 

 Irish botanists. 21. 1893. 



Thwaites, R. G. Bradbury's travels in the interior of America 1809- 

 1811. Early Western Travels 1748-1846. 5: 1904. 



Spaulding, Perley. A biographical history of botany at St. Louis, 

 Missouri. Pop. Sci. Month. 1908: 493-495. 



