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| Trails West |
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| Expansion of the American West |
| Part One: Lewis & Clark |
| Defined, a "trail" is a record left on the land by human or animal travel. The Utah Historical Society present exhibt on the trails in the West characterizes trails as paths of salvation, routes of settlement and commerce and signs of diversity such as Indian -Anglo and Hispanic. Trails were roads to riches, and roads of hoof prints of cattle, oxen and horses. But they were also nature's revenge that led to suffering, hardships and often death. There was an empire of inroads with routes shaped by nature and defied by men. Roads of military maneuvers and roads of industrial revolution such as the railroad. These were converging trails, trails that led to a melting pot of culture. The earliest trails were Native American or animal trails, and later used by the Euro-American explorers and trappers to move their supplies west and return east with wagons full of furs. When South Pass was discovered in Wyoming, this opened the Oregon Trail and the expansion of the American West. |
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| Roads were also rivers such as the Missouri, Snake and Columbia rivers used for travel. |
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| Meriwether Lewis & William Clark 1774-1808 1770-1838 |
| Early trading along the shores of the Pacific Northwest occured earlier than the entrance of Euro-Americans from land-routes from the East. Explorers such as Drake (1577-1580) and Cook (1778) opened the way of the discovery of the Pacific Northwest by sea. The fur trade was a profitable business operated by business men, who centered the market to allure the taste of the public in Europe and Eastern United States. The style was prime furs and pelts for clothing, especially the felt of the beaver, which was made into top hats and clothing for the fasionable. Fashion also affected the Native American Indians who used the European trade beads, silver, cloth, vermillion and other articles traded with Euro-American traders and trappers for the pelts. With the demand for furs, trade became extremely competitive among the fur companies as trappers and explorers reached deeper into the heart of the American West. In the early years, traders bargained with Native Americans for their furs, exchanging such things as vermillion, beads, sliver, sugar, mirrors, tobacco, knives, cloth/clothing, kettles, awls and trade blankets for pelts. For example, at Fort Vancouver (WA) a large blue colbalt bead (50-60mm) would be worth one prime beaver pelt. It was a supply and demand situation, where often prices would change according to the demand. Basically, the rate of exchange depended upon the markets in the east and Europe. The early Euro-American trappers themselves traded for cash rather than trade items. Many of the trade centers became centers of commerce, cities and towns created by the voyageurs, Native American Indians and traders. In 1821, the North West Fur Company merged with the British Hudson's Bay Company. From 1825 through 1843, the HBC company sent fur brigades out annually from the Columbia Department (Fort Vancouver) as far east as Utah and Colorado, south into California, throughout the Pacific Northwest and north into present day British Columbia. The brigades were given the orders to trap anything with fur to keep the American trappers out of their area. However, as early as 1820 some areas were almost trapped out, and by 1835-40 beaver pelts were replaced by the demand for silk. |
| With the completion of the Louisiana Purchase by United States, under the direction of President Thomas Jefferson, the new land mass opened up the way for further trapping and exploration of North America. |
| In 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected President of the United States. He invites Meriwether Lewis as his personal secretary, to help make plans to explore the Amerian West. |
| During this period of early America history, two-thirds of the population lived within fifty miles of the Alantic Ocean. The western boarder of the United States was the Mississippi River. In January 1803, in secret communication with Congress, President Jackson sought $2,500 in funding for an expedition to explore the unknown area of North America and further west. The final cost of the expedition would reach $38,000. That Spring, Meriwether Lewis is chosen as commander. He travels to Philadelphia to be trained for the trip and begins to purchase supplied to outfit the venture. Lewis request William Clark to share in the command of the expediton; Clark accepts the position. On July 4, 1803, the news of the Lousisiana Purchase is officially announced. America is doubled in size with the addition of 820,000 square miles, purchased from France at a cost of only 3 cents an acre or $15 million. In 1804, Lewis and Clark attends a ceremony in St. Louis formally transferring the territory to the United States. In May 1804, the Corps of Discovery expedition of approximately 58 men, a 55 foot keelboats, over 10 tons of supplies and two smaller "pirogues" boats sets off from Camp Dubouis. Lewis is in St. Louis and joins the expedition within a few days. In October 1805, the Corps (See: Profile) entered what is now Washington state. On the 18th, Clark sees Mount Hood (Oregon), and the party ventures through the falls and into the Columbia Gorge (present day Oregon and Washington) on their way to the Pacific Ocean. Winter quarters is decided by vote (Note: York, a slave and Sacagawea, a woman and Indian voted -- which would not happen again until women and Indians were granted the rights of citizenship. However, the Mormon's also allowed women to vote, which they had to terminate to gain Utah Statehood.). March 23, 1806, the Corps departs Fort Clatsop (Astoria, OR) for their return trip home. September 23, 1806, the party reaches St. Louis. Lewis is made govenor of the Louisiana Territory, and Clark an Indian agent and brigadier general for the terriotory's militia. Sadly, on October 11, 1809, Meriweather Lewis commits suicide at Grinder's Stand, south of Nashville. On December 20, 1812, at Fort Manual (present day South Dakota), Sacagawea (a Native American Indian guide for the Expedition) dies. In 1832, York, a slave of Clark, dies it is believed of cholera. He was kept in slavery for at least ten years after the expedition. William Clark passed away on September 1, 1838. (See: Lewis and Clark Journals). |
| Exploration and routes of the trappers and explorers opened the way for the Oregon, Mormon, California and other trails west. See Western Expansion. |
| GO WEST! Was the cry that expanded the American West! |