informed, and upright and considerate with others. Lewis selected William Clark as his coadjutor and comrade. The expedition was, therefore, organized under two captains. Both men had received military training. Both knew how to command and to obey. Both were eminently qualified for the undertaking.
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SENATOR THOMAS H. BENTON
The Party Assembled at St. Louis. The party of explorers consisted of two commanders, eighteen soldiers, nine Kentucky hunters, Clark's negro, and two French interpreters. There were also sixteen other soldiers who accompanied the expedition the first season. They spent the winter of 1803-4 at the mouth of the river Du Bois, (Illinois) building boats and gathering information and material for the journey.[1]
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- ↑ 'Oregon Fostered by Missouri.Although various states contributed to the development and growth of Oregon, Missouri led them all. Missouri was the principal supply station—the Half Way House—for the early emigrants to Oregon. Among the first to understand the situation and to advocate American occupation and possession of Oregon was Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri. Later Senator Lewis F. Linn, of Missouri, urged military possession of the Columbia and a territorial government in Oregon. When some of the other states were in doubt, Missouri was firm, in befriending and nourishing the interests of Oregon, and urged the settlement of the new territory so that it might become American by occupation as well as by discovery. At the outset a vast number of emigrants came from Missouri to build homes in Oregon. It will, therefore, be seen that Missouri in developing her own interests as a supply station for the far West, helped magnificently in the outset to develop Oregon. Consequently, Oregon grew as a by-product of Missouri much the same as Missouri grew of Kentucky, Kentucky of Virginia, and Virginia of England.
