Lewis and Clark set out from the St.
Charles area on May 21st, 1804. Stephen Ambrose recorded the moment as they
departed..
As the keelboat turned
her bow into the stream, Lewis and his party cut themselves off from
civilization. There would be no more incoming letters, no orders, no
commissions, no fresh supplies, no reinforcements, nothing reaching them,
until they returned.
The captains expected
to be gone for two years, perhaps more. In all that time, in whatever lay
ahead of them, whatever decisions had to be made, they would receive no
guidance from their superiors. This was an independent command, such as the
U.S. Army had not previously seen and never would again. Lewis and Clark
were as free as Columbus, Magellan, or Cook to make their mark on the sole
basis of their own judgments and abilities.
Their first afternoon
together on the Missouri, they made three and a quarter miles. They camped
that night on the head of an island on the starboard side. Spring storms
continued and a hard rain lasted through the night. At 6:00 a.m., May 22,
they were on their way.
Stephen
Ambrose, Undaunted Courage, "Ready to Depart, April – May 21, 1804"
The Boathouse at Bishops Landing in
St. Charles reflects the period when the Corps of Discovery launched from here.
Visit the home of the Discovery Expedition to see the replicas of the boats used
during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. These boats will be used by crew members
to reenact the expedition during the 2003-2004 Bicentennial years.
There is also a great museum and gift
shop. Please visit them as well. It costs $1.00 for adults and .50 for kids to
enter the museum.
This is located in Frontier Park in St.
Charles. There is also a nice statue commemorating Lewis and Clark with Lewis'
HUGE Newfoundland Retriever, "Seaman."
Now, on to the cache! You will be
"exploring" by locating an ammo can close to the boathouse. Lucky for you, you
won't be too far from civilization. The cache is hidden in the deep jungle of
the Missouri River bottom. When you find the cache, you must log your
experiences about your expedition. You may have to offer the local natives some
form of trinkets and feel free to trade with them through the metal box which
they have left for you. You might not have much luck with modern equipment such
as a GPS because of the dense jungle. Lewis and Clark would have laughed at such
a device.
I did find a journal that documented some
kind of starting location. Here is the entry...
We walked through the parking lot from around by
the boathouse. It wasn't until we were parallel with the river did we find an
opening though the heavy brush. However, the opening that we found was NOT the
one close to the boathouse. It was located more towards the town buildings. It
was a good walk and the parking lot seemed to curve around it somewhat. As we
entered the Jungle, we were met by many different spiders. There were also signs
of rising water. We found some broken rock piled high and around trees. Two of
the trees seemed to form a natural X. We knew then we were less than 10 feet
from the prized treasure.
I certainly hope that I could help you
more but this is all that we have pieced together. I could even receive lashes
just for relaying this information to you.
Please replace this cache back exactly as
you found it. We wouldn't want rising water to sweep it away.
