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Terrific letter from William Clark to his brother on the Lewis & Clark Expedition...
Terrific letter from William Clark to his brother on the Lewis & Clark Expedition...
Item # 702412
November 13, 1806
INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE, Boston, Nov. 13, 1806 The front page contains an extraordinary letter that is prefaced with in part: "We congratulate the public at large & the particular friends of Messrs. Lewis and Clark and their enterprising companions, on their happy termination of an expedition..." with much more, and further on: "...By the mail of this morning, we have received from an obliging friend, the following letter from Capt. Clark to his brother, General Clark..." with more.
The letter was taken from its printing in a Frankfort, Kentucky, newspaper, and we don't believe it was picked up by many newspapers of the era. This is just the third we have seen this delightful letter, and great to have it on the front page. One other discovery was in a newspaper dated 12 days later.
It is dated at: "St. Louis, 23rd September, 1806" and is signed in type: "Your affectionate brother, WM. CLARK." It is a truly wonderful account of their journey both west and then east with much interesting detail. It consumes 1 1/2 pages of the front page.
The letter begins with noting his arrival at St. Louis: "We arrived at this place at 12 o'clock today, from the Pacific Ocean, where we remained during the last winter near the entrance of the Columbia River..." followed by a wealth of fine reading. A few bits include: "...we went out, in order the more effectually to explore the country and discover the most practicable route which does exist across the continents by the way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers: In this we were completely successful...we have discovered the best route which does exist across the continent of North America...total distance from the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi, to the discharge of the Columbia into the Pacific Ocean 3555 miles...On the 17th of Nov. we reached the ocean, where various considerations induced us to spend the winter..." and much, much more.
Four pages, some scattered ink stains to the front page, nice condition.
Category: Pre-Civil War
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