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Will James Middle School
Billings, Montana
Hello! We are a 7th grade team of geography students at Will James Middle School in Billings, Montana. We are investigating the mapping tools and methods of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and comparing this with present-day mapmaking. We've learned a lot and hope you enjoy reading about our discoveries.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition:
A Perspective on Mapping
Chantel's Drawing
Introduction
Imagine going on an expedition with two leaders, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Your mission is to map a vast, unknown land with tools that are state of the art. Using instruments such as a sextant, octant, compass, and a log line, you take on the immense job of mapping the land west of the Mississippi to the mouth of the Columbia River at the Pacific Ocean.
Imagination drives exploration. An excellent example of this imagination is at the heart of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. President Thomas Jefferson was very interested in knowing the land west of the Mississippi River. In his letter of instructions to Meriwether Lewis on June 20, 1803, Jefferson stated the great need to map the findings of the expedition.
The interesting points of the portage between the heads of the Missouri, and of the water offering the best communication with the Pacific ocean, should also be fixed by observation, and the course of that water to the ocean, in the same manner as that of the Missouri. Your observations are to be taken with great pains and accuracy, to be entered distinctly and intelligibly for others as well as yourself, to comprehend all the elements necessary, with the aid of the usual tables, to fix the latitude and longitude of the places at which they were taken...
The Expedition created about a hundred maps to share their knowledge of the land they traveled through. Clark and Lewis probably spent many long nights, discussing their observations and examining the bearings they had been able to gather during the day. For Lewis and Clark, it was a great feat to map the land that they did, using the tools they had.
(Source of quote: Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. An American Legacy: The Lewis and Clark Expedition, (Great Falls, 1998) p. 3/2-3/3.
Lewis and Clark's Expedition · The Legacy Grows: Lewis and Clark's Garden · Student Projects (Teach Lewis and Clark) · About the Student Projects
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This document's URL is: © 2001 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory Date of Last Update: 2/25/2002  |