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The year 2003 marked the Bicentennial of the Lewis and
Clark Expedition. Many historians past and present,have written from diff-
erent perspectives about this important historical event and its signific-
ance in terms of its scope, as to the vast amount of data that was collected
during the two- year trek.The expedition garnered much knowledge in the field
of natural history,discovering for the first time,facts about many of the ani-

mals that Americans in that day and age knew little or nothing about. It was an
educational experience,to say the least, and aside from stories from an occasion-
al explorer,nothing prior to this expedition had documented the existance of the
flora,fauna, and geography of the country west of the Mississippi River,much less
the Native American inhabibants that dwelled in those far reaches of territory.
Their voluminous journals are filled with descrip-
tions and drawings of animals that we take for granide as always knowing about,such
as coyotes and wolves; jackrabbits and porcupines.Strange animals such as prairie
dogs and birds such as condors adorned the pages of these jounals, and made for many topics of dicussion in every walk of life in provincial America,from grammar school classroom to college lecture;from family settings to social clubs,folks talked about the discoveries that were made in Lewis and Clark's magnificent jour- ney to the West. Newspapers chronicled the event and its exciting discoveries.
Animals such as mink and beaver were to be plundered
in future years for their fur,almost to the point of extinction before they were re-
populated,as well as the mighty bison herds,which roamed the western part of the North American continent by the millions.The Lewis and Clark Expedition served as an impetus to drive the further exploration of the west by many groups of enterpris-
ing adventurers that would serve as scouts for fur trading companies. Men such as Manuel Lisa and later,mountain men like Jim Bridger would follow. The free enterpr-
ise system would flourish there in ways it had never done before,and the natural resources of the land would pay the price over time. When William Clark and Merri-
weather Lewis were commisssioned by President Jefferson to undertake the ardous task
of endeavoring to document their journey to the vast unknown territory that lay to the west,they had no real concept of the far-reaching impact it would have on future
generations. For no two other men could have done a better job in that era of Amer-
ican history to record the factual information that made up the natural history and science of the American West. We today should be grateful that they both were well versed in their fields of expertise,and were bold enough to dare the journey to the great unknown.For they not only wrote and drew luminous descriptions of the wildlife there,but they made maps that others used to follow the paths that they had trod.The Lewis and Clark Expedition marked the real beginning of the American
educational experience as we know it, in terms of natural history and science.

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