84 Stoux City Academy of Science and Letters. 
too, Capt. Lewis showed the same wisdom and foresight 
he displayed in all his plans. Instead of taking the tents 
kept in the public stores which were in use by the army, 
Capt. Lewis had his tents made to order, and presumably 
of better material and workmanship than those kept in 
stock. He could not obtain new ones when these were 
worn out and, therefore, had the best that could be made. 
In the copy of the bill for materials and labor the amount 
for eight tents and forty-five bags made of Russian can- 
vas is $119.39. At the bottom of the bill is the receipt 
of Richard Wevill for this amount, dated July 20, 1803. 
In a list of charges taken out of the account of Capt. 
Lewis to be charged to other specific accounts, I learned 
that his large boat and fittings were made in Pittsburgh, 
Pas 
The list of all articles purchased by Israel Whelen, 
outside of the public stores includes the Indian presents, 
which cost $669.50; camp equipage, including tents, 
$233.61; mathematical instruments, $473.45; arms and 
accoutrements other than for the privates, $218.33; cloth- 
ing, $317.73; provisions, $366.70; medical supplies, $94.49. 
In the bill for mathematical instruments there is a charge 
for a chronometer and keys costing $250.00, or more than 
half of the entire amount of this bill. In arms and 
accoutrements 176 lbs. of gunpowder is listed as costing 
$155.75. The whole of the clothing bill is made up of two 
items of 45 flannel shirts and 16 coatees costing respect- 
ively $71.10 and $246.63. In provisions 193 lbs. of soup 
cost $289.50. These prices seem very high to us now, 
but it always costs the government much more for such 
articles than private parties could purchase the same for. 
But when we add the amounts of all these bills together 
the total is very small when we consider the size of the 
party and the long and dangerous journey they were pre- 
paring for. The first summer there were over forty mem- 
bers of the party and about twenty for the rest of the 
time they were away. The total amount paid for all 
these supplies was, according to these bills, $2,373.81. 
Of course other supplies were taken from the public 
stores for which no prices are given. I doubt much if 
such an expedition could be fitted out now, at the very 
much lower prices prevailing, for any such sum as was 
the one of Lewis and Clark in 1804-1806. 
