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Lewis and Clark made Missouri the starting point for westward expansion COLUMBIA, Mo.(KMIZ) It’s one of America’s defining origin stories— the Lewis and Clark Expedition.And Missouri was at the center of it all.The nearly three-year journey began up the Missouri River 222 years ago.“The goal in leaving from St.Louis and going up the Missouri River was to find, as they hoped, some sort of waterway that links the Mississippi River Valley to the Pacific Ocean,” said Sean Rost, assistant director for research at the State Historical Society of Missouri.“They weren’t going to find that, obviously.But the hope was that some sort of series of waterways would link the two bodies of water and thus provide easier navigation for people to go back and forth.” The expedition came out of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, when the United States doubled in size by acquiring territory from the French First Republic.Most of that land consisted of what is today the Mississippi River Valley, all the way out west to portions of the Rocky Mountains.After the $15 million purchase, then-President Thomas Jefferson wanted the more than 800,000 square miles of uncharted territory explored.He called on Meriwether Lewis to gather a group to head out west.And Lewis chose William Clark as his co-commander.“Thomas Jefferson had known Meriwether Lewis.This had been his private secretary before he became president.And both he [Lewis], as well as William Clark, had experience and involvement with the military and been involved with various kinds of expeditions in the past,” Rost said.The men’s knowledge was crucial to a successful venture into the unknown.“They had this familiarity with different elements of the landscape, although they had to still be trained for this new environment,” Rost said.He said that as the leader of the expedition, Lewis had to be well prepared before traveling to the new land.“So he goes actually to Philadelphia before he ever leaves and embarks from St.Louis to get a kind of quick education in astronomy, how to follow the stars and how to map your route,” Rost said.The expedition begins On May 14, 1804, the expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, headed west from Camp Dubois in Illinois.“They're departing from St.Louis, and they're heading out up the Missouri River, which is daunting in and of itself,” Rost said.“We can think of today, the ability to move, airplanes and trains and automobiles and everything.But this is an era before there is even movements of water easily.This is before the steamboat comes into play, the revolution of the waterway.” Rost said the group of 30 likely traveled 10 to 20 miles on a good day.“The Missouri [River] filters down in the Mississippi River.So you're going against the current the entire way,” Rost said.“You're encountering waters that are impassable, you're encountering low water situations.If you're encountering, as they do, mountains and you can't go any further, you're having to essentially get out of the water and carry your supplies up land, over mountains, through passes, before you find another waterway to continue on.” A word that Rost continually mentioned when thinking back on Lewis and Clark’s expedition was determination.Mapping out a wilderness they weren’t familiar with was a challenge and led them to look to many indigenous people for help along the way.A Lemhi Shoshone or Hidatsa teen named Sacagawea joined the expedition in the fall of 1804.She was around 17 years old, according to Discover Lewis and Clark, and played a vital role in the Corps of Discovery’s success.“She kind of becomes the center point of a lot of history,” Rost said.Sacagawea is one of the most notable indigenous people to connect with Lewis and Clark.“Her role was not only helping to identify certain locations and elements of travel, but also helping them in saving things whenever there's a miscommunication with indigenous tribes or trying to help them bridge relationships between indigenous tribes, too,” Rost said.Sacagawea was mentioned in Lewis and Clark’s journals four times before her name was given, according to Discover Lewis and Clark.Many other indigenous people were also mentioned.At the same time, some of the first American settlers were moving in.“The Missouri River Valley that Lewis and Clark would have been going up, it would already have existed with people settling on both sides of the river,” Rost said.The further away the group got from St.Louis, the less populated it would have been by settlers.But further up the river, Rost said they were encountering fur trapping outposts.“Indigenous populations have been in this area for thousands of years.There are already fur trappers and traders who have gone along this area as well.So it's already been traversed,” Rost said.“But this is going to be a scientific expedition that not only works on identifying new flora and fauna, mapping out the territories, but also working in some elements of relationships with the indigenous populations that will be along these various routes.” Rost said the expedition laid claim to the newly acquired territory largely by naming the area’s plants and animals.“Of course, in the process of that, they're kind of doing away with the indigenous names that have been given to the same places in favor of these kind of Americanized names.” Early on in the expedition, Lewis and Clark started sending shipments of their findings to Washington, D.C.Samples include plant and animal material, including animal pelts.Reaching the Pacific Ocean In November 1805, after about 18 months of travel, the group finally arrived at the Pacific Ocean.“In a lot of ways, this is a slow-moving expedition that kind of goes up the river, eventually crosses the mountains,” Rost said.“We have to remember that in the course of winter, they're not really moving very much.” The group spent the winter of 1804 to 1805 in the Dakotas.They then hunkered down for the next winter in what is today Oregon, after reaching the Pacific.“They actually hope when they get to Oregon, or what becomes Oregon, that there is going to be a boat somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean,” Rost said.“They hope that there is going to be traders and travelers out there and that they could get a kind of abbreviated trip back.” Though it would have been a long trip going all the way around the southern tip of South America by boat, the journey back would have been less strenuous.“They kind of wait for a while, realize that no boat is in the area, no other people are in the area for them to get on a ride with, so then they turn around after a couple of months and then head back to St.Louis.” Rost said while they had to traverse the land again, their journey back was easier as it went down the river.23, 1806, the 8,000-mile journey across the continent ended.The group was met with a hero’s welcome.The information they gathered and wrote in their journals and maps they charted would help lay the foundation for a new America.“I think that legacy of it becomes really significant in how it affects American identity and the way that Americans viewed themselves in the larger portions of North America over the course of the 19th century,” Rost said.A lasting legacy Many people learn about Lewis and Clark in grade school.The Louisiana Purchase and the subsequent expedition are part of the U.S.curriculum.“This exploration provides a lot of things to this very new and young United States.It provides new lands for people to settle in.It provides new elements of familiarity with things they had not heard about,” Rost said.“So the kind of excitement behind that of new animals, new plants, new people that they encounter along the way, too.It's remembered as one of those major moments of American history, even from the very beginning.” But the story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition is also a pillar of Missouri history.“We think about the 2