To Thomas Jefferson from William Clark and Meriwether Lewis, 18 May 1804
From William Clark and
Meriwether Lewis
Saint Louis, May 18th. 1804
Sir,
The following is a list of Articles forwarded you by Mr. Peter Chouteau.
Minerals.
| No. 1. A specimen of Silver Oar from Mexico | |||
| No. 2. ditto of lead, supposed to contain a considerable quantity of Silver, from Mexico. |  |
These were presented me by Mr. Peter Chouteau, who received them from the Osage Indians—They having collected them in some of Their War excursions into that Country1 |
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| No. 3. An elegant specimen of Rock Chrystal, also from Mexico— | |
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| Nos. 4. & 5. Specimens of led Oar from the Bed of the Osage River. | |
presented by Mr. Boilevin and Mr. Peter Chouteau. | |
| Nos. 6, 7—8—9—10—11—12 14—& 15.—Specimens of led Oar from the mine of Berton, Situate on the Marimec River, now more extensively wrought than any other led mine in2 Louisiana. | |
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| Miscellanious | |
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| Articles.3 |
| No 13.—Taken from the Stomach of a Buffaloe, which I suppose has been formed by the Animal’s licking itself and thus collecting and swallowing the hair of its old coat, which from the motion, warmth and moisture of the Stomach has been4 reduced to the shape and consistance of the sample— | |
presented by Doctr. Anthony Sograine. |
| Miscellanious | |
|
| Articles5— |
| A horned Lizzard, a native of the Osage Plains, on the Waters of the Arkansas River, from five to six hundred miles West of Saint Louis, in a small Trunk— | |
presented by Mr. Charles Gratiott |
| A Specimen of Salt formed by concretion, procured at the great Saline of the Osage Nation, situate on a Southern branch of the Arkansas River, about six hundred miles West of St. Louis.— | |
presented by Mr. August Chouteau— |
Maps &c.
| A chart of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Missouri, to New Orleans compiled from the observations of Mr. August Chouteau,6 mad7 with a marinors Compass, distance being computed by his own estimate and that of many other French traders, accustomed to ascend and descend this River, the same being drawn by Mr. Soulard, late Surveyor General of Upper Louisiana.— | |
Presented by Mr. August Chouteau— |
Continued }
A Map of a Part of Upper-Louisiana, compiled from the best information that Capt. Clark and myself could collect, from the Inhabitants of Saint Louis, hastily corrected by the information obtained from the8 Osage Indians lately arrived at this place. The Country claimed by the Osage Nation is designated on this Map, by lines doted with red ink. The Country lying between those lands claimed by the Osage Nation, and the Mississippi, imbraces all the Settlements at present established in Upper-Louisiana,9 except the Settlement near the mouth of the Arkansas and those below it10—there are no settlement beyond the St. Francis river and I think it would be good policy to prohibit any settlement being made beyond it; the country between this river and White river which lies West of it, is said to be a delightful tract of land, and there appears to be no Indian claim to it—
I have designated by lines doted with red ink, the manner in which I concieve it would be most proper to district Upper Louisiana for governmental purposes.11—this map has but small claims to correctnes, but I hope it will furnish some general ideas of the country which may be servicable.
M. Lewis.
Continued }
| Two plans of the town of St. Louis, you’l find on examination that they do not perfectly correspond—the small one is that which I believe to be correct—the deviation from which, observeable in the large one may properly in my opinion, be attributed to the late unauthorised Sales of land in this quarter.12— | |
The Smallest of these was drawn and presented by Mr. Soulard—the largest was more recently drawn in part by the same gentleman, and completed by Capt. Clark.— |
RC (DLC); incomplete, consisting of a portion of the sheet, with writing on both sides, cut to separate it from the remainder of the document (see notes below); in William Clark’s hand with one emendation by Lewis (see note 4); endorsed by TJ: “Lewis Meriwether.” RC (MHi); incomplete; consisting of the remainder of the document; in Clark’s hand with an emendation by Lewis, concluded and signed by Lewis, with addendum by Clark (see notes 8, 10, and 12); in Lewis’s hand alongside his signature: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by Lewis: “A List of Articles forwarded by Mr. Peter Chouteau.”
The composition of this list of articles appears to have been a collaboration between William Clark and Meriwether Lewis, likely written at different times, mostly in Clark’s hand but in Lewis’s voice. They probably folded over a large sheet of paper to make two leaves, with the inventory of geological and animal specimens occupying most of the first leaf and the descriptions of the maps and charts beginning at the bottom of the first leaf’s verso and continuing on the second leaf. Lewis probably enclosed the list in a letter of 19 May, recorded in SJL as received 26 June but not found. TJ appears to have torn or cut the sheet along the fold and across the first leaf to separate the listings of ore samples (and the text on the verso of the leaf) from the rest of the document. He may have enclosed the remainder, including the descriptions of the maps, in his letter of 29 June to Dearborn (, 1:192-5).
The items traveled with Pierre chouteau, who accompanied a delegation of osage leaders. They left St. Louis on 17 May and arrived in Washington on 11 July. Chouteau, along with “22 Indians,” met Lewis and Clark at their encampment near the mouth of the Missouri River on 21 Apr., and they all went that day to St. Louis. Clark returned to camp on the 25th, with Lewis remaining in St. Louis until his departure on 20 May for St. Charles, where he joined the expedition, which had broken camp and started upriver on 14 May. In a letter to Clark of 2 May, Lewis requested the “case with the Maps, and the specimines of salt.” Clark sent them two days later (same, 1:177; , 2:206, 211, 227, 240; Richmond Enquirer, 4 July 1804).
Mine à Breton (berton) was part of a large tract of land containing lead deposits. Located about 60 miles west of St. Genevieve, it developed a reputation for yielding exceptionally rich ore, and its operations had recently been upgraded by American émigré Moses Austin (Jedediah Morse, The American Universal Geography, 6th ed., 2 vols. [Boston, 1812], 1:599; William E. Foley, A History of Missouri, 6 vols. [Columbia, Mo., 1971-2004], 1:59-60).
The horned lizard, also called a horned toad or horned frog, attracted a good deal of attention from observers. A widely circulated account from Lexington, Kentucky, described the animal as a “very curious species,” similar in form to a “land tortoise, very flat, covered with scales, of a dark grey colour, a short tail, and a head formed like that of a buffaloe” with six horns. The correspondent added that the reptile, while in the possession of Chouteau for four months, had taken no nourishment other than a “little water.” TJ later sent it to Charles Willson Peale (Richmond Enquirer, 4 July 1804; Donald Jackson, “A New Lewis and Clark Map,” Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, 17 [1961], 119n; Charles Willson Peale to TJ, 24 July 1804).
The chart of the mississippi River, map of a part of upper Louisiana, and plans of St. Louis have not been found, but the map was copied by a cartographer at the War Department after the delegation’s arrival at Washington in July. Known as the Lewis and Clark Map of 1804, it illustrates an area extending northwest along the Missouri River as far as the Platte River and west beyond the territory claimed by the Osage Indians. The map does not extend much east of the Mississippi River and depicts that river as far south as the Chickasaw Bluffs and as far north as the Iowa River. It contains fairly detailed information on the Osage River basin and on some of the tributaries of the Arkansas River, and delineates administrative divisions for New Madrid, Cape Girardeau, St. Genevieve, and St. Louis (, 1:7, 17n, map 6).
1. Clark wrote this and the other notations about the sources of the specimens vertically in the margin.
2. Canceled: “Upper-.”
3. Text to here from MS in DLC. The next portion is from MS in MHi.
4. Preceding two words interlined by Lewis in place of “is.”
5. Beginning with this heading, text is from MS in DLC.
6. Remainder of text, beginning with this word, is from MS in MHi.
7. Thus in MS.
8. Preceding eight words interlined by Lewis in place of “or from the.”
9. Clark here canceled “is also comprehended in.”
10. Text to this point is in Clark’s hand. The remainder of this paragraph, the paragraph that follows it, and the signature are in Lewis’s hand.
11. Lewis originally ended the letter here and signed it. He then partially erased his signature and wrote the remainder of the paragraph.
12. This paragraph and the explanation of it alongside are in Clark’s hand.