Jump directly to the Content

Leading Into the Unkown

April 7th, 1805

Our vessels consisted of six small canoes, and two large perogues. This little fleet altho' not quite so rispectable as those of Columbus or Capt. Cook, were still viewed by us with as much pleasure as those deservedly famed adventurers ever beheld theirs; and I dare say with quite as much anxiety for their safety and preservation. we were now about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles in width, on which the foot of civillized man had never trodden; the good or evil it had in store for us was the experiment yet to determine, and these little vessels contained every article by which we were to expect to subsist or defend ourselves. When the immagination is suffered to wander into futurity, the picture which now presented itself to me was a most pleasing one.

—Meriwether Lewis

Where the map ended, the real adventure began.

A year had passed since Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and their band of 27 explorers left St. Louis. ...

From Issue:Fall 1999: The Forecast
March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
Leader's Insight: Managing Up
Leader's Insight: Managing Up
Achieving your vision—and your boss'—at the same time.
From the Magazine
Empty Streets to the Empty Grave
Empty Streets to the Empty Grave
While reporting in Israel, photographer Michael Winters captures an unusually vacant experience at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close