Oregon was the finish line for America’ s greatest expedition
Charbonneau Villager April 2025 A13
Nonfiction Book Club
By DAVE MAUK
Oregon was the finish line for America’ s greatest expedition
“ Of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction.”
— Thomas Jefferson of Meriwether Lewis
It’ s nearly impossible to put the Lewis and Clark Discovery Corps Expedition in perspective. A continent only occupied by its citizens along a sliver of shoreline. A founding father of the young nation serving as the general manager for the project. The land in question was indeed a land in question. The competition for control was as unsettled as the land itself. Napoleonic France, Spain, Britain and Native Americans all claiming rights to what amounted to three-fourths of what was to become the United States. Historian Stephen Ambrose does a masterful job of bringing this to readers in“ Undaunted Courage,” his narrative of President Jefferson’ s Lewis and Clark expedition.
Only a few nonnative people had stepped foot west of the Appalachians. The most prominent few footprints were well above the 49th parallel, or confined to the Pacific shore, where the Columbia emptied into it. There were no maps beyond a few scratches indicating a fort, a mountain or a river. None proved remotely accurate( the Rockies are not 3,000’ in elevation like the eastern range). And what of food, navigation, transportation, the elements, languages and unknown response from those who lived there, who themselves fought each other over territory?
Meriwether Lewis was uniquely qualified for his hand-picked assignment, by a U. S. president no less. As was his partner of equal rank, Captain William Clark. The extraordinary vision of Thomas Jefferson to comprehend the value of the west for the youthful United States, and his insatiable curiosity and ambition to cross the continent, is the impetus of the story. The against-all-odds perseverance of the two leaders against countless obstacles and hardships is as monumental as the expanse of land they crossed was immense.
“ Undaunted Courage” puts the reader on the keelboat as it navigates rivers, on horseback as hooves grind up and slide down mountainsides, and at campfires as the smoke curls above skillets and kettles. There are so many notable accomplishments that came from the expedition. The knowledge obtained of what and who inhabited the vastness of the continent was a bedrock of scientific and cultural discovery. Atop the pile of these are the meticulous maps and navigational notes that made further westward travel possible.
Our readers delighted in yet another connection with an earlier story we read, which deciphered the mystery of calculating longitude( making overseas and overland navigation possible). As talented, dedicated and successful Lewis was in his achievements, his own view was clouded, then consumed by his personal demons. Jefferson and Clark were steadfast in their beliefs, and in recording what the three of them and their accomplices, including the Charbonneau family and Sacajawea, achieved for posterity. It’ s America’ s greatest expedition that opened the west.
Next up for the nonfiction book group is“ American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House,” by Jon Meacham, one of our favorite authors. Please consider joining us in the fireplace room at 1:30 p. m. April 21, for this timely book group discussion. Looking ahead to May, our selected book is“ Revenge of The Tipping Point,” by Malcolm Gladwell. Contact charbonneaubookgroup @ gmail. com for more information.
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