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All told, it would be two years before Lewis, Clark and their men returned from the American West. They spent a miserable, wet winter near the Pacific coast, in present-day Oregon, in a coastal rainforest site that now hosts Fort Clatsop, a national memorial where their winter dwelling and lifestyles are replicated. Heading home, they endured more snow in the Bitterroots, charted Marias River and endured taunts of the Teton Sioux. Given up for dead, cheering crowds of people from St. Louis greeted them. They had made it home! It was Sept. 23, 1806.
Lewis and Clark’s sweeping adventure became legendary.
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In Their Own Words... |
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“We suffered the party to fire off their pieces as a salute to the town. We were met by all the village and received a hearty welcome from its inhabitants."
~ Clark, on arriving at St. Louis | | Their two-year journey was a tremendous gift to the American people: It documented the mostly-unexplored lands west of the Mississippi River. The Corps discovered plants and animals new to Western science, created detailed navigation maps of the landscape and captured the spirit of the many Native Americans they encountered — forever preserving this untamed land in words.
The Corps of Discovery opened the West to trappers, traders and opportunists, eager to take part in the riches of this new land. The land and its peoples would be forever changed. | 
