50 REUBEN GOLD THWAITES. Two interesting queries arise in this connection: (1) How did General Clark obtain possession of this wealth of manu- scripts, when all the records of the expedition were sup- posed to be in the hands of Riddle and Barton, as editors, and by the latter were delivered on Clark's order, and at Jefferson's request, to the Philosophical Society? (2) Why did not the General surrender them either to the Philo- sophical Society or to Jefferson, when the latter was eagerly searching for all the documents in the case, claim- ing them as the undoubted property of the Government, and all the while Clark was ostensibly assisting him to that end ? To the first query the probable answer is that Biddle found these particular notebooks of no service to him, for all of the facts contained in them are either in Lewis's journals of similar dates or in other drafts by Clark as a rule, fuller and in better form. He therefore probably returned the books to Clark in the early stages of the work, keeping only those which later were placed in the society's archives and which sufficiently present the entire story of the expedition. It is probable, also, that the en- graver having completed the necessary maps for the pub- lication, all of the charts made upon the expedition were returned to Clark. As for the elkskin-bound field book, already transcribed into another volume, this probably did not go to Biddle at all. The orderly book, the various fragments, the Lewis-Clark correspondence, and the letter of credit were doubtless also kept at St. Louis as being deemed for Biddle's purpose of a popular narative un- usable material. As for the Ordway journal, it is on rec- ord that this was returned to Clark, although thus far it has not been discovered among his papers. That these documents were not surrendered by Clark to Jefferson during the latter's search was possibly occa- sioned by the fact that Clark an exceptionally busy
