Main Event: Part II

If Pittsburgh was a main staging point for the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Chapter 1 of two weeks ago) with much of future material needs coming together there from east of Western Pennsylvania, Camp Dubois, which was on the Wood River above St. Louis, and near the mouth of the Missouri River, was the beginning of the Main Event. The time spent in between Pittsburgh and Camp Dubois in 1803, and at Camp Dubois during the 1803-04 winter, was the period of assembling an able Corps of Discovery. Thereafter, important scientific observations concerning new flora and fauna become a big story thread, which, along with mapping the west, and interactions with the Indian Nations, became the Main Event. Chapters to come will have more to say about The Corp of Discovery keelboat, the Corps itself,…