Eureka - The Ocean

On November 7, 1805 Clark recorded in his journal "Great joy in camp, we are in view of the ocean, this great Pacific Ocean which we have been so anxious to see!"  Not exactly though...as they were still deep within the Columbia river's broad estuary.  A week later they did indeed arrive on the Pacific coast, their journey of discovery complete.  On the border between Washington and Oregon they built Fort Clatsop (now Lewis and Clark National Park in Oregon) and spent a soggy, uncomfortable winter there.

The next spring they turned homeward along much the same route they had blazed. In  July 1806 they split into two parties - Clark's party explored the Yellowstone River and followed it to the Missouri.  Lewis' path included an encounter with a band of Blackfoot Indians in which two Indians were killed.  The two parties reunited at the Yellowstone and Missouri River for the last leg of the journey.  They arrived back in St. Louis on September 23, 1806. 

Lewis had recorded at the end of the journey "We were now about to penetrate a country at least 2000 miles in width on which the foot of civilized man had never trodden, the good or evil it had in store for us was for experiment yet to determine."  What an adventure it must have been!

Next time...Treason in the air
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Today in Pioneer History: On this day in 1785, the older of the two Grimm brothers, Jacob, is born in Hanau, Germany. The two brothers assisted some friends with research for an important collection of folk lyrics. One of the authors, impressed by the brothers’ work, suggested they publish some of the oral folktales they’d collected. The collection appeared as Children’s and Household Tales, later known as Grimm’s Fairy Tales, in several volumes between 1812 and 1822.