Nobody likes a litterbug, but historians wish that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had left more behind as they bravely traveled across the country nearly 200 years ago. They cleaned up so well that it's hard to tell exactly where they stopped on their historic journey from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Ocean.
Today researchers are hot on the track of the explorers. They hope to answer age-old questions about these great trailblazers of the West.
A Courageous Camping Trip
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson asked Lewis to explore the Louisiana Purchase, a huge area of land that America was about to buy from France. He hoped to learn of a water route between the Mississippi River and the Pacific that would help U.S. trade.
Lewis and his best friend, Clark, left St. Louis in May 1804. They never found the water route, but they became the first U.S. citizens to see many of America's wonders--the endless Great Plains, the jagged Rocky Mountains and the glittering Pacific. They faced many perils, including bear attacks and bitter cold. In Great Falls, Montana, they carried heavy canoes for weeks around waterfalls under the hot sun. At times they were so hungry that they ate their pack horses.
More than 500 days and 4,000 miles after they had set out, Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific. "Ocian in view! O! the joy!" wrote Clark (a horrible speller) in his journal.
The explorers kept superb maps and diaries. They were the first to describe 122 kinds of animals, 178 plants and many native tribes. But they left barely a trace at their campsites. That makes it hard for historians to say "Lewis and Clark were right here!"
Montana scientist Ken Karsmizki and others hope to pin down such facts. They are digging in the soil at Great Falls, and at Fort Clatsop, where the pair rested before making their separate ways home. Beads and gun ammunition were recently found at Fort Clatsop, but more tests are needed to prove that they belonged to Lewis and Clark.
As the 200th anniversary of the journey approaches, Americans will have plenty of chances to learn about the brave pioneers. On November 4 and 5, pbs will show a film by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, who spent three years retracing the trip. In July a Lewis and Clark museum will open in Great Falls. And celebrations along the trail are in the works.
"When Lewis and Clark left, we were a seaboard collection of former colonies," says Burns. "What they saw transformed us from a small country into a great one."