The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-04-13
BOOKS AND AUTHORS; COMMENT AND GOSSIP

First Across the Continent. The story OIL
the Exploring Expedition OF Lewis e's
and clark in 1so3-.4-5 BY Noah
Isrooke. Illustrated. Charles Serb
ner,s sons, New York Si-5o ret
.Ie,rerson was derided by the New.
l.ne,andcrs and New Workers and many
F 1sc.lasyIvaBians and some rev sou.lsi.i.
efs Tor buying the territory OF Loulsi sa
from hara-up Napoleon. but majority.
Z Of the people approved OF. the purchase
and IL was effected. AS Jefferson nm
self said he stretched the Constitution
until it cracked" to accomplish ms pui-
pose Jefferson knew what he was DOING.
Jefferson was born and raised among 4
pioneer people. the people whose caNia-
lier Governor and a band of adventurous
gentlemen had long ago surmounted me
Alleghanies. the people whose sons had
opened up the Ohio Valley and pene-
trated beyond the Mississippi ut various
places from the Ohio to the Gulf. WASH
ington himself had traversed the desert
beyond the Alleghanies in the service Oh
Lord Fairfax and as an envoy OF Gov
crnor Dinwiddie. Jeffcrson's nciShbor,
Colonel John. Roger Clark, had gone out
into the wilderness and driven the
British from it The reports of Daniel
Boone as TO the fertility and resources
of Kentucky were current in Virginia.
Jefferson was well informed as to the
condition OF the country lying imlae-
diately beyond the Mississippi. from the
reports Of men who had travelled up and
down that great river. We see to-day
how right he was We find the great city
OF st. Louis preparing to celebrate the
anniversary Of the Louisiana Pufchase'
ny an exposition in 1904. And the State
of Oregon is preparing for a similar ceia-
bration OF the Lewis and Clark l1xpe-
dit!on" in 1905. The original cost OF thef
vast Louisiana territory is not WORT,
considering in comparison with the pres
ent value Of the States that have been
carved out of il.
Having purchased this enormous terri
& tory, larger by far than the then republic,
II was necessary TO have 1t mapped so
that the people might see what was
theirs. To find men in sympathy with
the project and equipped by nature for
Inc work Jefferson selected his private
secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and Lieu
tenant William Clark, Of Louisville, to
command the expedition. Lewis was a
resident of A1bemarle county and a neigh
Dor Of the Presidents. lie was a scion Of
the Fredericksburg family or that name.
He had been an officer in the Revolution
airy army and was an accomplished hun
Z ter. William Clark was a. son of Jona-
liidu N1sti 1ldllNc III Sal Guilty,
Va, and resident of Fredericksburg.
who in 17SJ, had removed viii, his fam
lily 10 Louisville, Kentucky, where he re-
sided until his death In 1888. After his
fathers death, Clark lived for while in
the village OF st. Louis i'll this very
worthless" Louisiana territory.
Organizing in st. Louis, Lewis and
Clark set out with thirty young men. a
negro boy and dog and spent two years
Thoroughly that unknown country in
which. a white man had never before
been. The expedition was perfectly sue
scessfil!. The party crossed the Plains
and ile Rocky Mountains by following
The Mississippi River 10 lis head waters.
Following the Columbia River from its
source to tho sea, the party, after great
hardships. reached the Pacific Ocean
The secItt the winter OF 1906 at The
mouth of the Columbia River and. start
ing home in March. they reached St Louis
in SEPTEMBER 1906 The story of their
journe. filed the country with spirit
for westward expansion, and was re-
ccived with enthusiasm even In distant
Europe Lewis was rewarded with the
Goveinorship of Missouri territory, ana
Clark was made brigadier-general, and
still later, in 1913, on the death OF Clark,
he was made Governor of Missouri ter
Iitory.
The diary OF the Lewis and Clark eN-
pedition has never been published IN inc
original wording: Some of it is too tech
meal for popular reading and some OF IL
relating to camp routine is quite unin.
teresting and monotonous. The author OF
this volume. Noah Brooks. forty
MINER who knows the sunset tran. mas
selected from the original journal in lie
,,ossession of the American Philosophical
Society at Philadelphia the most inter
esting extracts, which he has arranged lor
general reading and particularly for the
nerusal of the present generation In 1t
he has told the story Of the expedition as
fully as possible in the language OF the
heroic men who made it. 1t is an an-
sorbing story OF great historical import
ance, and yet is as interesting. If not
more interesting, than tale OF ilctlon.
The story, is presented in dlsninea
volume well printed in good, large type ;
St is handsomely bound; is illustrated
with nortraits of Lewis and Clark, from
the originals in Independence Hall. Phila-
dclnhia: and has twenty-forr lilustra ..
lions. including a fontispiece by +.
yohn. a study of a Grizzly. by A. B:
frost. and four drawings by Ernest
Thompson Seton.