The Nome daily nugget., 1935-02-02


 victory over the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers victory which smashed the power of Little Turtle, the Miami leader, and his allies, which led to the Treaty of Greenville and brought peace for a time at least, to the har ried Ohio border. After that the two friends separated again-Lewis, now a lieutenant, re turning to Charlottesville on furlough and Clark, damning army life and it's hardships resigning his commission and going back to the Kentucky blue grass to be a country gentleman.
 At Charlottesville Lewis found that his mother had married again, to certain John Marks, so he abandoned his plan to resign from the army and take over the management of her planta- tion again. In May, 1797 he was promoted to captain and ordered to Fort Adams on the east bank of the Mississippi near the present site of Natchez, there to exercise joint command with Captain Pierce. After a short stay there, he was ordered back to Fort Washington, made regimental paymaster and for the next two years was busy riding through a lawless fron- tier country with his saddle-bags filled with gold to pay off the troops at various posts In the Middle West.
 Then Thomas Jefferson became President and there came the turning point in Meriwether Lewis career. Jefferson offered him the position of secretary and Lewis lost no time in resigning from the army and accepting the offer. Among those with whom he was thrown Into contact in the National Capital, both in an official and In a social way, was the vice president, Aaron Burr. And Aaron Burr had beautiful daughter, Theo- dosia, who had married a South Carolinian named Aston.
 Soon the Presidents secretary and the vice presidents daughter were seen much together. They danced together, they rode horseback to- gether almost every day and before long Lewis was deeply in love with the beautiful Theo- dosia It was his first experience with this emo tion True, there had been the beginnings of a youthful romance between him and cousin, Maria Wood Ca river in Montana bears her name, given to 1t by Lewis during the famous exploring expedition), but nothing had ever come of that. And nothing came of his love for Theodosa "The petty Fates must have taken rather satanic delight in making Theodosia Burr Alston twenty-three and well married, the prin- cipal of the first and only great passion of Meri- wether Lewis life. When Merne Lewis sought to give words to his sentiments, Theo- dosia was pleasantly frank. she had reputation and a husband to keep Therefore the captain could remain friend of the fam ilys. That ended It."
 But If he couldn't have the woman he loved, there was another great experience awaiting him. Thomas Jefferson had been eyeing the vast country beyond the Mississippi for number of years and, even before considering the possi- bilIty of bringing 1t under the flag of the United States, he was planning an exploring expedition into this wilderness of plains and mountains. The leader would have to be a daring man, a resourceful man. one who knew life in the will derness. Such man was his young secretary. which Is one of the reasons why Meriwether Lewis became his secretary.
 Then came the opportunity to buy this vast territory from Napoleon, and Jefferson, stretch ing his powers under the Constitution until they cracked" bought 1t for $15,000,O0O The next thing to do was to ind out what he had bought. So the long-dreamed-of exploring expedition was planned. Meriwether Lewis was placed in con- mand and, of course, the first man he turned to to accompany him was William Clark
 The story of the Lewis and Clark expedition ia too well known to need more than passing mention here even though 1t was the high-water mark in the career of Meriwether Lewis. That heinz the case. 1t seems strange to read one entry in his Journal, that for August IS, 1SOo, when the two explorers were nearing their goal. Ii said: "This day I completed my thirty-f year and conceived that had in all human prob ability now existed about half the period which I am to remain. -. had as yet done little to further the happiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation. I resolved, in future, to redouDle my exertions and at least endeavor to promote those two primary objects of human existence by giving them the aid of that portion Of talents which nature and fortune have bestowed upon me: or in future to live for mankind as have heretofore lived for myself"
 He could not foresee, of course, how the na' tion was to acclaim him and his friend. CiarK when they returned to St Louis the ne1 ysa'