An Assignment of a Lifetime
My great niece Sofia’s first NG magazine subscription.
Dear Sofia,
Today is your third birthday, and you are receiving your first copy of National Geographic Little Kids magazine. Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved reading National Geographic and hope that you will as well. NG Little Kids is for kids like you from ages 3-5. And because I love cats, I am especially happy to see that your first issue has an adorable cheetah cub on the cover.
The April 2002 issue of NG magazine.
I also want to share a story from one issue of National Geographic that is dear to my heart. It is the April 2002 issue. The article is called “Lewis and Clark’s Lost Missouri: A Mapmaker Re-creates the River of 1804 and Changes the Course of History.” It’s about the Corps of Discovery, their incredible two- year expedition to the Pacific Ocean, and what they mapped and surveyed along the way. And now, Sofia, here is the story—
On May 14, 1804, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark departed with the Corps of Discovery from their winter camp across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. Turning their keelboat and two pirogues up the Missouri, Lewis and Clark began an epic reconnaissance of the newly acquired Louisiana Territory.
Their party wouldn’t reach the Missouri’s source high in the Rocky Mountains—the Jefferson River at Red Rock Creek in southwestern Montana—until August 12, 1805. They eventually crossed the Continental Divide and traveled down the Clearwater, Snake and Columbia Rivers to the Pacific Ocean. They would trek close to 8,000 miles before arriving back at St. Louis on September 26, 1806.
Much has been written on how this expedition shaped the way that America sees itself today. Looking back today, we ask ourselves what Lewis and Clark knew at the outset of their journey and what they discovered over the course of their two-year odyssey. What seems clear is how perfectly suited these two extraordinary men were for the daunting mission they undertook.
"Lewis and Clark’s Lost Missouri" article in the April 2002 issue.
Prior to being commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to lead the expedition, Meriwether Lewis was tutored by members of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia in natural history, medicine, astronomy, and surveying. William Clark was an experienced soldier familiar with frontier life. Clark’s descriptions, observations, and map sketches recorded in field journals throughout the course of the expedition demonstrate his instinctive skills as a geographer.
What was their charge? As envisioned by President Jefferson, the expedition was to explore the Louisiana Purchase, and the watersheds of the Missouri and its tributaries. They were to find “the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent for the purpose of commerce,” to observe “the soil and face of the country,” and to inform its native inhabitants that their allegiance was now due to the United States. As the journey was deemed a scientific expedition, the leaders were also to make astronomical observations that would lead to the publication of an accurate and detailed map of the continent’s uncharted interiors.
But today’s Missouri River, 2315 miles in length, is not the same river that carried the Corps of Discovery on its outward journey and back. And this is where I become a footnote in this story. Twenty years ago, Jim Harlan, Assistant Program Director of the Geographic Resources Center in MU’s Department of Geography, created a set of maps depicting the historic Missouri River as it looked at the time of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. After Harlan showed the maps to your great-uncle Kit and me, I took a set of the maps to Washington, DC and showed them to the editor of NG magazine. As a result, Harlan’s maps of the now “lost” Missouri River were featured in the April 2002 issue of National Geographic—an article, dear Sofia, that I was asked to write.
Sofia’s great aunt Cathy at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, DC.
It was an assignment of a lifetime! To research the article, I sought the assistance of Harlan and historian James Denny of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. I explained that I needed to be taken to some “magic” local places along the Missouri River where I could feel the presence of the explorers. And that is exactly what they did. One morning, at a site called Clark’s Hill, we reached a jutting limestone rock overlooking the west side of the Osage-Missouri River confluence.
“It is one of a very rare number of sites that Lewis and Clark not only noted, but that Clark explored,” Denny explained. “It was the perfect location for Clark to set up an instrument and take his distances; he had an unobstructed field of view of both rivers for taking his measurements and taking time out to enjoy ‘a delightfull prospect’.” Standing at that same spot, I felt Clark’s presence to my core. At that instant, time fell away, and I was traveling with the explorers as they mapped their journey west.
The expedition brought back a treasure of scientific information. The Corps made priceless discoveries in the fields of zoology, botany, ethnography, and geography. By systematically recording abundant data on what they had seen, from weather to rocks to people, Lewis and Clark established a model for future expeditions.
And so little Sofia, I encourage you to read and explore. Perhaps someday you will research and write articles for NG Little Kids and National Geographic. Life is a journey filled with adventures. May you enjoy each one of yours.
- With love to you on your 3rd birthday from the author of the “Lost Missouri” article, your great-auntie Cathy Riggs-Salter.