On September 23, 1806, the Corps of Discovery arrived in St. Louis, their journey complete, to a crowd of excited people. The men had been gone about two and a half years, and were glad to return to familiar surroundings and anxious to see their loved ones. John Ordway recorded in his journal that
"about 12 oClock we arived in Site of St Louis fired three Rounds as we approached the Town and landed [opposite] the center of the Town, the people gathred on the Shore and [gave] three cheers. we . . . [are] much rejoiced that we have the Expedition Completed and now we look for boarding in Town and wait for our Settlement and then we entend to return to our native homes to See our parents once more as we have been so long from them."
 |
 |
|
Statue in St. Louis commemorating Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, and Seaman
|
|
William Clark would spend most of his life after the expedition living in St. Louis. His grave is located there, in the Bellefontaine cemetery. Part of his epitaph reads: "Soldier, Explorer
Statesman and Patriot
His life is written
In the history of his country."
Today, the city of St. Louis is proud of their connection to the Lewis and Clark expedition and westward expansion. Often called the "Gateway to the West," the Gateway Arch on the banks of the Mississippi River towers over the city. Completed in 1965, and rising 630 feet into the air, this monument is a part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Park. Recently, Missouri memorialized the arch and the Lewis and Clark expedition on their state quarter.
 |
|
Missouri state quarter, 2003
|
|
|
The expedition encompassed both successes and disappointments. Although Lewis was successful in discovering and describing 178 new plants, and 122 new species and subspecies of animals, he was still forced to tell Jefferson that finding an all-water route down the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean was impossible, thus putting an end to the hope for a Northwest Passage. Jefferson had asked the men to establish friendly relations with the Native American tribes the Corps encountered, but despite Lewis and Clark's best efforts, several, including the Teton Sioux and the Blackfeet, remained enemies of the United States. Still, the members of the expedition returned with a wealth of new information. Until that journey, most of the white inhabitants of the United States knew little or nothing about what lay beyond the Mississippi River. Although they found that an all-water route across the continent was not possible, they still proved that traveling as far as the Pacific Ocean could be done. By traveling as far as they did, they strengthened the U. S. claim to the areas that today include Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The Lewis and Clark expedition meant that the vast blank space on American maps could begin to be filled in. When Meriwether Lewis returned to Washington, D.C., just at the beginning of 1807, Thomas Jefferson was so fascinated by the Lewis's new maps that he spread them out across the floor, and must have gotten down on his hands and knees to examine them in every detail.
