The Essential Lewis and Clark is the journal of Meriwether Lewis, 29 and William Clark, 33 as they explore the new land with a crew of 33 in their search of a direct connection of the Pacific to The Missouri. Without their documents, this great expedition would not have been recorded and would have been a great loss. .
Lewis and Clark left for their great journey by leaving Pittsburgh on August 31, 1803. They left in a fifty-five foot masted keelboat, with two canoes and forty-two men. .
Thomas Jefferson, then Commander In Chief, appointed Meriwether Lewis, an .
army captain, to be Captain on this journey. The Co-captain, William Clark was .
appointed by Meriwether Lewis. In order to diminish problems, Lewis and Clark decided .
they both would be captains. It was a tale of a journey that two dedicated men took unknowing what the outcome would be. It told of the dedication the crew had in these two men, to trust that they had their best interests at heart. They battled through mosquitoes, ticks, Native Americans, strange animals, and even plants that they had never seen before. Through all of this, they also got to witness some of the most beautiful sights never witnessed before by any people except for the Native Americans. These things in themselves give all of these men great satisfaction and honor. But it was still a very difficult journal for any man to take. .
I find it quite interesting that in the 1800's tobacco was such a commodity and given as gifts. These days, it is known to cause cancer and would not be thought of in such a complimentary way. .
One of the most interesting events of the book, was when it first mentioned of how the crew became so ravenous, they took to eating dogs for survival. To me, this is as bad as it gets. It was enough to keep me engulfed in the book. I could not believe the animals these men ate without even thinking about it. They thought nothing of eating different animals and plants as they made their way west.
