Lewis and Clark led one of the most famous expeditions ever. President Thomas Jefferson wanted to discover more of the land west of the Mississippi River. No Americans had explored that area yet. He chose Meriwether Lewis (top picture) to lead the expedition. Lewis was born on August 18, 1774. He served in the army and was neighbors with Thomas Jefferson. William Clark (bottom picture) was picked to assist Lewis as his partner. On May 14, 1804 the famous expedition to the west began. They took a canoe along the Missouri River to the west. Along the trip they met an Indian named Sacagawea, who served as an interpreter for Lewis and Clark. During their expedition they met many Indian tribes and greeted them with peace by giving gifts. Since there were no telephones or telegraphs, Lewis and Clark had to write a description of what they saw and then send messengers back to Jefferson. The descriptions had to be kept from getting damaged because if the writings got wet the ink would blur. To keep them safe they put the descriptions in bottles. One famous part of the expedition was at the Three Forks. Clark took one part of the expedition down the one fork and Lewis the other. In autumn of 1805 the expedition arrived at the west coast and Lewis and Clark were the first Americans to see the Pacific Ocean. The expedition returned to St. Louis on September 20, 1806.

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