什麼是路易斯和克拉克遠征

Lewis and Clark Expedition

美國首次橫越大陸抵太平洋沿岸的往返遠征考察活動，領隊為路易斯和克拉克。由傑佛遜總統發起，目的是尋找一條橫越大陸通向太平洋的路線，通過新的路易斯安那購地計畫記錄下了這次考察活動。大約有四十名精通各行各業的能手於1804年離開聖路易斯。他們溯密蘇里河而上，抵達現在的北達科他州，在那裏修築了曼丹堡（後來的俾斯麥），在曼丹蘇人中過冬。翌年春離開，僱用了夏博諾和他的印第安妻子薩卡加維亞作嚮導和翻譯。他們穿過蒙大拿州後，騎馬越過大陸分水嶺而來到克利爾沃特河的源頭。他們自制木舟，順流而下，進入蛇河，抵達哥倫比亞河口，在那邊建克萊索普堡（後來的奧瑞岡州的阿斯特）越冬。該團體解散後又重新聚集，乘獨木舟順密蘇里河而下到達聖路易斯，1806年抵達時受到熱烈歡迎。遠征路上只有一名成員死亡。路易斯和其他人的日誌記錄了印第安人的部落、野生動植物和地理資訊，大大消除了人們對於這條通向太平洋的便捷水路所懷的神祕感。

1804～1806年

Lewis and Clark Expedition

First overland expedition to the U.S. Pacific coast and back, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Initiated by Pres. Thomas Jefferson, the expedition set out to find an overland route to the Pacific, documenting its exploration through the new Louisiana Purchase. About 40 men, skilled in various trades, left St. Louis in 1804. They traveled up the Missouri River into present-day North Dakota, where they built Fort Mandan (later Bismarck) and wintered among the Mandan Sioux. They left the next spring, hiring Toussaint Charbonneau and his Indian wife, Sacagawea, who served as guide and interpreter. They traveled through Montana and by horse over the Continental Divide to the headwaters of the Clearwater River. They built canoes to carry them to the Snake River and thence to the mouth of the Columbia River, where they built Fort Clatsop (later Astoria, Ore.) and wintered over. After the group divided, then reunited to canoe down the Missouri to St. Louis, arriving to great acclaim in September 1806. Only one member had died. The journals kept by Lewis and others documented the Indian tribes, wildlife, and geography and did much to dispel the myth of an easy water route to the Pacific.