35-xx-xx ep02Lewis and Clark

Frontier fighters, spiring dramatic incidents in the lives of the trail blazers of the far west. 1803, seated in his study, President Thomas Jefferson is talking to his personal secretary.

Captain Lewis, your attention please. Yes, Mr. President. Captain, I'm a plain man. Faines spoken. Yes, Mr. President. You've been my confidential secretary now for, let me see. Two years? Yes, sir. Two years, lacking a few months.

Captain, have you ever speculated why I chose an army officer to be my secretary? Many times, Mr. President. Sir, you're going to relieve me? Send me back to the truth. No, I'm not returning you to your regiment.

Captain Lewis, you've no business in the army. No business in the army? Oh, you don't think I lack courage, sir? Of course not. Your record in the whiskey and the direction is ample proof of your courage.

Well, then, Mr. Jefferson, just what do you infer? Captain Lewis, as third president of the United States of America, I contemplate sending an expedition to explore the great Northwest territory beyond the Rocky Mountains. You, Captain Mary Weather Lewis, and another Army officer will lead that expedition.

Well, I'm honored, sir, and thank you for your confidence. And who may I ask you to be my colleague in this undertaking? A man like yourself, a soldier, intelligent and courageous. A man who will sacrifice his life, if need be, to make this project the success.

Captain William Clark. Winter 1803. At the head of 26 men, 14 of them volunteer soldiers, the others, Kentucky boys, Lewis and Clark were snowed in at the mouth of the Missouri River, near what is now the city of St. Louis, until the spring thaws finally released them and they traveled on. Ever westward toward the setting sun, toil the Lewis and Clark cavalcade, fighting hostile