Completing the Paperwork
Journal 2005 04 04
Completing the Paperwork
A frosty morning as the men prepare items to be sent downriver with the keelboat. This would be the report the men left of their mission as they broke winter camp. President Jefferson was many things as a man and a leader. He was curious in all things. Lewis must have taken great pleasure in serving the president with his discoveries. Among the animal hides, stuffed animals, horns of the bighorn sheep, birds, plants, herbs, some Mandan pots, a bison robe painted with a recording of a war story being sent to the president were a live prairie dog and four live magpies! One magpie was the sole survivor of the live specimens sent to Washington, DC.
This package would leave Fort Mandan in a few days, arrive in St. Louis in May and finally reach President Jefferson in February 1806. The maps and descriptions of the flora, fauna and anthropology were received with great interest and great concern. In February 1806 there was great speculation that the men and their mission had met its end somewhere in the wilderness never to be known.
It is hard for us to imagine no communications for extended periods of time. Think about it for a minute. Written mail (and all mail was written) moved by water and foot. No email, instant messenger, satellites, cell phones, fax machines, Morse code, FedEx, UPS Overnight, airplanes, air cargo, etc. Not even a rotary dial telephone. The only “roads” were for wagons. Rivers were navigated as we navigate I-5 and I-90.
Think of our friends and family serving as missionaries in Africa. What do they send to us from that foreign land? What would we send? How do they describe the people and the land? How would we?
All that I said about the primitive communications and life compared to what we know, still the bill collector was able to find the captains! No telephone calling center, but an accounting ledger and a hard working clerk turned the wilderness into an abundant source of commerce. The primary purpose for this expedition was to find an easy waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific so commerce could be improved and controlled by the United States, not England, France or Spain. Captain Lewis paid Charles McKenzie of the North West Company $133 for a horse they had borrowed that was later stolen by the Sioux Indians. McKenzie was paid with a “bill of exchange”. A government check.
What made sense to Lewis and Clark on the trail accountants and politicians in Washington, DC would later scrutinize. The “cost overruns” were great and the barking dogs would nip at the heels of this great expedition and cause Meriwether Lewis great trouble. We may not touch this subject for more than a year from this entry so let it serve as a reminder that human nature is such that if you are embarking on a great adventure you must be prepared to battle with those who would detract from your mission and accomplishment. Keep records. Hide no thing. Complete the mission under the authority of the one who sends you, not the one who later second guesses and criticizes your every move and motive. Press on. In the historic words of Lewis and Clark, “proceed on”.
Completing the Paperwork
A frosty morning as the men prepare items to be sent downriver with the keelboat. This would be the report the men left of their mission as they broke winter camp. President Jefferson was many things as a man and a leader. He was curious in all things. Lewis must have taken great pleasure in serving the president with his discoveries. Among the animal hides, stuffed animals, horns of the bighorn sheep, birds, plants, herbs, some Mandan pots, a bison robe painted with a recording of a war story being sent to the president were a live prairie dog and four live magpies! One magpie was the sole survivor of the live specimens sent to Washington, DC.
This package would leave Fort Mandan in a few days, arrive in St. Louis in May and finally reach President Jefferson in February 1806. The maps and descriptions of the flora, fauna and anthropology were received with great interest and great concern. In February 1806 there was great speculation that the men and their mission had met its end somewhere in the wilderness never to be known.
It is hard for us to imagine no communications for extended periods of time. Think about it for a minute. Written mail (and all mail was written) moved by water and foot. No email, instant messenger, satellites, cell phones, fax machines, Morse code, FedEx, UPS Overnight, airplanes, air cargo, etc. Not even a rotary dial telephone. The only “roads” were for wagons. Rivers were navigated as we navigate I-5 and I-90.
Think of our friends and family serving as missionaries in Africa. What do they send to us from that foreign land? What would we send? How do they describe the people and the land? How would we?
All that I said about the primitive communications and life compared to what we know, still the bill collector was able to find the captains! No telephone calling center, but an accounting ledger and a hard working clerk turned the wilderness into an abundant source of commerce. The primary purpose for this expedition was to find an easy waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific so commerce could be improved and controlled by the United States, not England, France or Spain. Captain Lewis paid Charles McKenzie of the North West Company $133 for a horse they had borrowed that was later stolen by the Sioux Indians. McKenzie was paid with a “bill of exchange”. A government check.
What made sense to Lewis and Clark on the trail accountants and politicians in Washington, DC would later scrutinize. The “cost overruns” were great and the barking dogs would nip at the heels of this great expedition and cause Meriwether Lewis great trouble. We may not touch this subject for more than a year from this entry so let it serve as a reminder that human nature is such that if you are embarking on a great adventure you must be prepared to battle with those who would detract from your mission and accomplishment. Keep records. Hide no thing. Complete the mission under the authority of the one who sends you, not the one who later second guesses and criticizes your every move and motive. Press on. In the historic words of Lewis and Clark, “proceed on”.
posted by @2007 Dick Cinkovich | 11:20 PM
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