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CHERYL WITTENAUER, Associated PressThe gateway city celebrates the bicentennial of the expedition that led our westward expansion.
ST. LOUIS - A 14-month-long exhibit that opened this month at the Gateway Arch museum examines St. Louis' role as the launch site for Lewis and Clark's historic expedition to the Pacific Coast almost 200 years ago.
The exhibit, "Lewis & Clark: Imagining the Expedition from St. Louis," will remain on view through January 2005 at the Gateway Arch Museum of Westward Expansion. It's one of three dozen events in the St. Louis region marking the expedition's bicentennial. But it is the only one that explores the five months that Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their group spent in St. Louis and at a nearby Illinois fort preparing for their departure on May 20, 1804, in search of the Missouri River's source and beyond.
"The Arch is a memorial to (President Thomas) Jefferson's vision to expand the country westward," said Myron Freedman, the museum's exhibits curator. "The planning for that largely happened in St. Louis. This exhibit is to remind people of the significance of this spot of ground."
The exhibit is grouped into five sections:
* What St. Louis was like in 1803-1804, complete with a touch-screen interactive map of St. Louis in 1804, with descriptions and sketches of prominent residents' homes.
* A map section that includes rudimentary maps and tools used to make them. Clark was remarkably accurate on his maps, according to Bob Moore, National Park Service historian at the Arch museum.
* The expedition's scientific accomplishments, including the identification and naming of 300 plants and animals never listed before, such as the least tern, Missouri beaver, Oregon bobcat and the sagebrush.
* Diplomatic efforts with the Indians, including gifts of the Jefferson peace medal to top-ranking chiefs of the territory's biggest tribes. Moore said the gesture illustrated that the white Americans were in charge and that they wanted to be friends.
* Profiles of key members of the expedition, including York, the only black man and Clark's personal slave, whose near-equal treatment during the journey ended when he returned home.
On exhibit in the St. Louis section is a book from the Old Cathedral that recorded the baptism in 1809 of Sacajawea's son, Jean Baptiste, whom Clark later adopted and educated in St. Louis.
The Cathedral's French-speaking priest did not understand her Indian name, so in the baptismal book, he describes her as a "female Indian of the Nation of Snakes."
Jefferson ordered the expedition even before the surprise completion of the Louisiana Purchase from France, which gave the United States the right to negotiate for Indian lands west of the Mississippi. The swath of more than 800,000 square miles stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. It would eventually be cut into all or part of 15 states.
Jefferson also wanted Lewis and Clark to set up a strong fur trade network with American Indian tribes. Indian trappers were trading with the British and Spanish. He wanted to cut them out.
"Americans were so expansionist," Moore said. "They were hungry for free land. They carried a political message that said, "We're in charge.' "
In St. Louis, a town of 1,000 people in 1803, prominent citizens and fur traders offered Lewis and Clark help and insights into what awaited them upriver. They were also feted and entertained at dinners and balls throughout the town.
Lewis pumped $40,000 into the St. Louis economy on supplies for the expedition. Powerful fur-trading families introduced Lewis to Indian chiefs with whom they traded, and arranged for French boatmen to join the expedition.
The St. Louis settlement that Lewis and Clark encountered was "an other-worldly place" whose architecture resembled buildings in Normandy, France, where the two-wheel cart was the mode of transportation and where French and Indian languages were spoken.
St. Louis hosted the ceremony marking the formal transfer of "Upper Louisiana" to the United States on March 9, 1804. The region will host many commemorative events during the Lewis and Clark bicentennial. They include, in addition to the exhibit at the arch, an exhibit at the Missouri Historical Society in Forest Park in St. Louis, opening Jan. 14; the "Three Flags Festival," marking the Upper Louisiana transfer, scheduled for March 10-14 in St. Louis; and a festival marking the anniversary of Lewis and Clark's departure from the eastern banks of the Mississippi, May 13-16, in the Illinois communities of Hartford, Madison, Alton, Edwardsville and Godfrey.
If you go
ST. LOUIS LEWIS & CLARK SITES AND EVENTS: For a free brochure, call the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission at toll-free 1-800-916-0040 or visit www.explorestlouis.com The visitors commission can also help with area lodging.
GATEWAY ARCH MUSEUM OF WESTWARD EXPANSION: Through Jan. 31, 2005, "Lewis and Clark: Imagining the Expedition from St. Louis" will be on display from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. There is no admission fee.
For details, call 877 982-1410 or www.gatewayarch.com/lewisclark