RE-CREATING THE WORLD OF LEWIS & CLARK

The Lewis & Clark Historic Landscape Project

a project of
Missouri State Archives, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State;
University of Missouri Department of Geography;
University of Missouri Geographic Resources Center

Explore it today at:
http://lewisclark.geog.missouri.edu/

Abstract:
Taking nineteenth century land survey records held at the Missouri State Archives and combining them with modern mapping technology, geographers from the Geographic Resources Center produced something unique and original: they re-created the world of Lewis and Clark in beautifully rendered historic maps and gave us a new way to look at the Lewis & Clark Expedition in Missouri.

The "Lewis & Clark Across Missouri River" website showcases these maps that depict the course of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as they journeyed with the Corps of Discovery across territorial Missouri in 1804. The maps featured on the website offer an extraordinary vision of the world they encountered – a world virtually unknown to white civilization.

The Missouri State Archives commissioned the Lewis & Clark historic maps to commemorate the bicentennial of the Corps of Discovery expedition, which began in 2004. Covering both the Mississippi and Missouri river corridors, the maps show the natural landscape in the days when a vast western frontier was about to be explored. The Corps of Discovery Expedition began in territorial Missouri and these computer-generated maps and the accompanying virtual tour reveal the rivers, land, and settlement patterns of the period.

The maps include the traveled route and the historic vegetative land cover and depict the expedition's course. The maps also comprise the first accurate rendering of the expedition campsites and foot explorations by crew members. The website offers handsome computer-generated images of significant landmarks and, with the use of virtual reality, allow users to embark on their own exciting exploration of the river Lewis & Clark traveled. It is a remarkable and unique opportunity to actively participate in a turning point of our nation's history.

Missouri's Lewis & Clark story is singular among the stories of the other trail states. The Missouri State Archives maintains land records that parallel the time of the Expedition's passage. No other western state has similar contemporary land records that can re-duplicate with such accuracy the Expedition's travel. With these maps and the website, Missouri will be given its place in the telling of this national adventure story.