I remember this Lewis and Clark Museum, but it really was part of the Museum of Westward Expansion in the visitor’s center in the Gateway Arch.  I remember the older theater that opened in May 1972, since the newer theater, called the Odyssey Theatre, was constructed in the 1990s.  I really enjoyed learning about Lewis and Clark.  On May 14, 1804, Captain Meriwether Lewis, and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark, with 30 others, went up the Missouri River.  This expedition crossed the Continental Divide of the Americas, eventually coming to the Columbia River, and the Pacific Ocean in 1805.  They spent the winter in North Dakota.  The return voyage began on March 23, 1806, after they spent another winter there in Oregon, ending their trip six months later at St. Louis in September 23, 1806.  President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the expedition, shortly after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, to explore and detail as much of the new territory as possible.  The expedition returned to St. Louis to report their findings to President Jefferson with maps, sketches, and various journals that were not published until years later.  Thus, this expedition made notable contributions to science.  Congress appropriated $2,324 for supplies and food.  The route of Lewis and Clark’s expedition took them up the Missouri River to its headwaters, then on to the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River.  While accounts vary, it is believed the Corps had as many as 45 members, including the officers, enlisted military personnel, civilian volunteers, and York, an African-American man enslaved by Clark.  The Lewis and Clark Expedition established relations with two dozen Native American nations, without whose help the group would have risked starvation during the harsh winters.  By April 25, 1805, Captain Lewis wrote his progress report of the expedition’s activities and observations of the Native American nations they had encountered to-date.  They followed the Missouri River to its headwaters, and over the Continental Divide, then north to Traveler’s Rest.  They descended on foot, then proceeded in canoes down the Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia rivers, and present-day Portland, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.  The expedition sighted the Pacific Ocean for the first time on November 7, 1805, arriving two weeks later.  During the winter at Fort Clatsop, Lewis committed himself to writing his journals with valuable knowledge, mostly about botany.  Their visit to the Pacific Northwest, maps, and proclamations of sovereignty with medals and flags were legal steps needed to claim title to each indigenous nation’s lands under the Doctrine of Discovery.  During the expedition, they contacted over 70 Native American tribes and described more than 200 new plant and animal species.  Jefferson had the expedition declare “sovereignty” and demonstrate their military strength to ensure native tribes would be subordinate to the U.S., as European colonizers did elsewhere.  The expedition was to make the native people understand that their lands now belonged to the United States and that “their great father” in Washington was now their sovereign.  Upon the return from their expedition, Lewis and Clark struggled to prepare their manuscripts for publication.  Clark managed to persuade Nicholas Biddle to edit the journals, which were then published in 1814 as the History of the Expedition Under the Commands of Captains Lewis and Clark.  It was not until 1904–1905, through the publication of Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Reuben Gold Thwaites, that people became aware of the full extent of their scientific discoveries made during their expedition.  During the 19th century, references to Lewis and Clark scarcely appeared in history books.  What do you know about Lewis and Clark?