Traveling with a purpose: the Lewis and Clark Trail - History - Travel planning - Photo eCards
Lewis & Clark search

200 years later...
Current Travel Resources
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Traveling With A Purpose:
Planning A Bicentennial Trip Along The
Lewis and Clark Trail
Lewis & Clark's preparation Traveling the Lewis & Clark Trail

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photo
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On this page: * Maps * Monticello * Biographies * History Books * Native Americans * Report Research * Travel Guides
Traveling and looking for events along the Lewis and Clark Trail in:
* Illinois * Missouri * Kansas * Nebraska * Iowa * South Dakota * North Dakota * Montana * Idaho * Oregon * Washington

* Lewis and Clark RESEARCH, at Questia OnLine Library
* PBS * Exhibits * Maps * National
Geographic
* National Park Service
Free eCards eCards or Pictures of * Missouri * Santa Fe Trail * Kansas * Kansas City KS * the Kansas (Kaw) River * Leavenworth County KS * Military history * South Dakota
[Only photos available until new ecard program available]
MAPS
1804-2004 Bicentennial - Researching The Trail:
On-Line Lewis & Clark
Trail
Maps:
* Expedition map * Flat map * from Columbus to Lewis & Clark * Landsat5 * South Dakota * Tribes encountered * Map Searches *

Lewis & Clark
Biographies

* William Clark
* Meriwether Lewis
* Sacagawea
* Meriwether Lewis, grave
* William Clark, grave
Genealogy
* Surname Searches
* Search the 1800 census

Native Americans
* Paduca, Apache, Comanche along the Kansas River
* Tribes Lewis & Clark encountered
* Native American history and genealogy research
Books and Journals, Questia:
* Indians of North America
* Indians of the Northwest
* Indians of the Plains
* Indians of the Southwest

US weather search

HISTORY BOOKS and JOURNALS:
Questia On-Line Library (some free, some by subscription)
* Northwest Passage: books and journals
* Lewis and Clark books and journals
Amazon bookstore
* The Journals of Patrick Gass: Member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
* The Essential Lewis and Clark
* In Search of York: The Slave Who Went To The Pacific With Lewis and Clark
* more books on the Old West and Kansas Collection

Web and TV
Lewis & Clark ...

* American West Trails
* Archeology news
* Bicentennial
* Background
* Discovering L & C
* PBS * Trail
* National Historic Trail
* Trail Heritage Foundation

Related
Topics:

* 1803 Louisiana Purchase
* Treaty
* President Thomas Jefferson
* Northwest Passage
* Keelboat on rivers
* American West (Virtual Library)
* New Perspectives on the West (PBS)
* National Park Service

* Lewis and Clark Expedition
Wikipedia facts plus History Forum
* Interactive Biographical
Dictionary
- People of the
West (PBS)
Monticello Souvenier Store



1804-2004 Bicentenniel - Trail Trips Today
On-Line Room Reservation Searches: Check specific cities and towns for available local motels and hotels in MO, KS below.

On-Line Car rental searches are also available.

Travel Guide Books:
* Traveling the Lewis & Clark Trail
, by Fanselow
* National Geographic's Guide to the Lewis & Clark Trail, by Schmidt
* Backtracking: By Foot, Canoe, and Subaru Along the Lewis & Clark Trail, by Long

Movies:
* Lewis and Clark - The Journey of the Corp of Discovery
DVD, 1999
* "The Trail" Lewis and Clark Expedition 1803-1806 VHS

Tours:
Montana:
* Lewis & Clark Historic Trail Tours
Any where: * Planning YOUR trip
Local News:
Current news (free) in * MO * KS * NE
* IA * SD * ND * MT * OR * WA
* Historical Newspapers by subscription


Lewis and Clark's Travel Preparations
The 55 foot, 22-oarsman keelboat used for the expedition left Pittsburgh, PA, on August 31 1803, and descended down the Ohio River with Meriwether Lewis and perhaps 11 men. By mid October 1803, the keelboat landed at Clarksville, a town in Indiana Territory, where William Clark and a few woodsmen from Kentucky came aboard.
Read about previous explorations of the Missouri River, from the on-line book Exploring the West from Monticello.
Ohio River
Cincinnati
Ohio River
Mississippi River - eCards
Missouri River - eCards
In December 1803 the boat reached the mouth of the Ohio River and traveled up the Mississippi River to the mouth of the Wood River, in what is now Illinois, across the Mississippi from the Missouri River and the town of St. Louis.

The American Rivers site lets you explore the Ohio, Missouri, Yellowstone, Snake, and Columbia Rivers with Lewis and Clark. What would Lewis and Clark see today? (Animated tour)
Also see the Columbia River Gorge.

Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail
* IL * MO * KS * NE * IA * SD * ND * MT * ID * OR * WA *

If you plan to start your exploration of the Lewis and Clark Trail around St. Louis, consider a side trip east across the Mississippi River on Hwy 270 to Rt 3 heading north in Illinois.
ILLINOIS          Official IL travel guides          * IL databases          * IL newspapers

Turn north from I-270 to Illinois Highway 3 to the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site, commemorating Camp Wood, near Mitchell, IL
Side trip: Cahokia Mounds Historic Site.
The Missouri River empties into the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, MO on the west bank. From December 1803 through early May 1804, the men camped on the Illinois (east) side of the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Missouri River. This early delay gave the men time to work out personality and work habit differences. While exploring this area, Clark saw the remains of a pre-historic Mississippian Indian village. A few miles further south, near Collinsville, are the Cahokia Mounds, the largest pre-historic (from 700 AD) Indian city north of Mexico.
* Historical marker text


MISSOURI          Official state visitor's guide          * MO databases          * MO newspapers      * Next 30 days: Events in Missouri

Suggestion: avoid driving through or trying to find a motel in St. Louis during rush hours. St. Charles is much easier to navigate, and is on the Missouri River.
Cross the Mississippi River
on I-70 or 270 west

* Where to stay in
St. Louis or St. Charles

St Louis to KC by train

History background: The same year the French ceded Louisiana to Spain (1764), Frenchman Pierre LaClede Liquest set up a trading post just south of where the Missouri River emptied into the Mississippi River. He named it "St. Louis", after the French King Louis IX.
More details: * St. Louis Fur Traders * Missouri databases
* Camp site map, interactive
* Points of interest, MO
Things to see: * Lewis & Clark in Missouri * Lewis & Clark Trail Today * Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis * Memo from Lewis to Clark, 1809

I-70 west crosses the Missouri River at St. Charles, MO
Take Hwy 94 west
* Motel search
* Lewis & Clark in Missouri * Lewis & Clark Center
* More on St. Charles MO


Katy Trail for hiking, biking

Cars take Hwy 94

* MO eCards

The Katy Trail starting in St. Charles, MO, closely follows Hwy 94, just north of the Missouri River, and heads toward Weldon Spring, then Defiance. The town of Augusta was once on the river. Marthasville was the last white settlement Lewis & Clark passed in Missouri. Turning south on Highway 19 goes into Hermann with several bed and breakfasts along the Missouri River.
Back north of the river, when 94 ends across from state capitol Jefferson City, take 54 into Jeff City, then west on 50 and north on 179 which follows the river northwest, then 87 north to Boonville. Consider a side trip east on I-70 to Rocheport, just north of the river. There was flood damage in this area along the Katy Trail during the spring of 2002.

Boonville
old Santa Fe Trail
Boone's Lick
, side trip
Arrow Rock

* MO eCards
* Santa Fe Trail eCards
Following the Santa Fe Trail, A Guide For Modern Travelers, Simmons

At Rocheport or Boonville, go to New Franklin, just north of the river on the Katy Trail and near the start of the Santa Fe Trail, a commercial trail which opened to Santa Fe (NM) in 1821. The DAR marker is on Broadway, east of Hwy 5.

On the way back south toward Boonville, take Hwy 87 west past Boonesboro to Hwy 187 and Boon's Lick, where the Boone families later settled and processed salt. The salt springs and salt well here are just across the Missouri River from Arrow Rock, but there is no bridge link.

Back south in Boonville, the Missouri River and remnants of the Santa Fe Trail head northwest toward Arrow Rock but the Katy Trail heads southwest to Clinton, MO. There are Bed and Breakfasts in Boonville. The historic sites and buildings and State Park at Arrow Rock are worth a stop.


Marshall
Rt 41 north to Rt 65 (west)
Waverly
Rt 65 to Rt 24
Lexington

* MO eCards

Marshall, MO
Marshall Chamber of Commerce
Lexington Virtual Field Trip


Buckner
north on Rt BB to Ft. Osage
back to Buckner
Rt 24 west into
Independence

* MO eCards

* Independence, MO, tourism
* Bed and Breakfasts along the Missouri River


KC MISSOURI       greater Kansas City info         * MO databases         * Kansas City Star
and KANSAS           Official KS travel guide           * KS databases          * KS newspapers          * Kansas Sights
* KS history: books and journals * Lewis and Clark books and journals

Bicentennial events:
Kansas City
Current 2003-2006 "From Sea to Shining Sea" Chautauqua
* Events Calendar * Wyandotte Co events calendar
June 2004 - * Wyandotte County (Kansas City KS) * Special events * KCK Street Blues Fest
July 2004 - * A Journey Fourth

Kansas City

* Motel search
* KC travel planning
* KC eCards
Pictures

* KC highways map
* greater Kansas City KS map
Local KS news

From June 26 to 28 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition camped here at the mouth of the Kaw (Kansas) River where it flows into the Missouri River from Wyandotte County KS.
* Things to see in greater KC * Lewis and Clark in Wy Co KS
* In KC, Missouri, see the Arabia Steamboat Museum, and read about the Chouteau fur traders in the City Market.
* In KC, Kansas, you can drive down for a closer view of the mouth of the Kaw River. I-70 crosses the Kaw on the Lewis and Clark Viaduct. From the right lane, leave I-70 onto 24-40, then right again onto Fairfax Trafficway. Turn right again across from the grain elevators into a warehouse area, then right again toward the river. There are no longer regular river boat rides from this site.

Parkville, MO
June, 1804
* ParkvilleMo.net * Parkville Info

Leavenworth, KS
* Motel search
* Travel Planning
* Leavenworth eCards
July 2004
* A Journey Fourth
July 2 1804
Lewis and Clark came to their first Kansa village near Leavenworth, KS on July 2, 1804. On the way back home in 1806, the expedition camped near the mouth of the Three Mile Creek flowing into the Missouri River.


Suggestions: See Ft. Leavenworth, with stops at the Buffalo Soldiers monument and fort museum, drive by the US Penitentiary, and stop by the Riverfront Park in Leavenworth. Cross the river for a River Connection Tour to historic Weston, MO.

Weston, MO
* Camp site map, interactive
July 3, 1804?
On the Missouri River when Lewis and Clark went by, what is now Weston, MO had spring water that the expedition gathered and stored.
* The river has changed course now, but to see it, stop at the Weston Bend State Park south of Weston, on Hwy 45. Park (free) and walk back to the Overlook, west, to the Missouri River and Kansas, north of Leavenworth. Weston has antique shops, Bed and Breakfasts, and a horse drawn carriage.
* Lewis and Clark in Missouri

Atchison, KS
* Motel search
July 2004
* A Journey Fourth
July 4, 1804
The expedition spent their first Independence Day where the current city of Atchison now is. They named the Independence Creek and Fourth of July 1804 Creek there.

* Overview of Atchison * Atchison trolly tour

Hwy 7 north to Troy, KS
Hwy 36 east to
St. Joseph, MO
* Motel search
eCards:
Doniphan Co KS

* Brief histories of Doniphan County KS, Buchanan County MO, and Andrew County MO
On their return trip, Lewis and Clark met an old army friend, Robert McClellan whose descendant has his cane (PDF from 2004 PBS program).
* Things to see and do in St. Joseph, MO
* Lewis & Clark historic areas of St. Jo
* Lewis & Clark, St. Joseph Museum
* Joseph Robidoux, early fur trader on the Missouri River
St. Joe News-Press * Pony Express Museum


Return west on Hwy 36
then north on Hwy 7
to Highland and
White Cloud, KS

eCards

* Native American Heritage Museum, Highland (old 36 hwy)
* Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska
* Sac and Fox Tribal Museum
* White Cloud D.A.R. marker at White Cloud commemorating the expedition

Still to come ...
* NE * IA * SD * ND * MT * ID * OR * WA
Back to the beginning of the trail


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