It started in 1804 and ended in 1806.  It mapped a whole new territory west of the Mississippi acquired by the U.S. in the Louisiana Purchase.  Which was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson.
    It cataloged plant and animal life, it also established relations with some Indians and collected information about their culture.
    The leaders were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.  They were two Virginians who shared some military background, but they were very different in personality and temperament.  The composition ranged from 30-45 soldiers and frontiersman including on black and one woman.  The woman was Sacagawea she joined April 1805 and earn her subsequent share of fame as an interpreter and peacemaker.
    It started in St. Louis and headed along the Missouri R.  The first winter they spent with the Mandans in Dakota.
    In the spring of 1805 they toiled up the Missouri to the headwaters, across the eastern slopes of the Rockies, over the Continental Divide, and in November 1805 reached Pacific.

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                Microsoft Encarta
                Microsoft Co.
                1994