On September 23, 1806, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark arrived back in St. Louis, Missouri, bringing the Corps of Discovery’s more than two-year journey to a close. The expedition had traveled from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific Coast and back, covering thousands of miles through river systems, plains, and the Rocky Mountains. Their return marked the successful completion of President Thomas Jefferson’s expedition to investigate the lands of the Louisiana Purchase and establish U.S. relations and trade connections with Native nations.
Clark recorded that the party reached St. Louis at about noon after stopping at River Dubois near the mouth of the Missouri River. The Corps fired a celebratory salute, and St. Louis residents gathered at the riverbank to welcome them home. Major William Christy made space available for the expedition’s baggage, while merchant Pierre Chouteau hosted Lewis and Clark at his residence.
The expedition returned with maps, journals, scientific observations, and information about the Indigenous peoples and landscapes of the West. Although its route proved that a transcontinental journey was possible, it also made clear that no easy, continuous water passage linked the Mississippi basin to the Pacific: the Corps had crossed the Rocky Mountains overland. Its records and discoveries became influential in the United States’ subsequent exploration, trade, diplomacy, and westward expansion.
Images of Lewis and Clark via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
