The True West: Lewis and Clark's Journey

Meriwether Lewis didn't just map America, he proved everyone wrong about what

the West actually was. Jefferson sent him in 1803 to find a water route to

the Pacific, believing rivers connected like highways across the continent. Lewis and Clark

discovered the brutal truth. No easy passage existed. The Rocky Mountains

stood as an impossible barrier, nothing like the rolling hills they expected.

They nearly starved crossing them. What they did find changed everything. They documented

over 200 species unknown to science, established trade with dozens of Native tribes,

and mapped thousands of miles of wilderness. The expedition took two years, covered 8,000 miles,