In 1804-06, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led about 40 soldiers and boatmen on a journey commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to find a route to the Pacific Ocean through the newly acquired Louisiana territory. This Corps of Discovery mapped the land, recorded its resources, and contacted its native inhabitants. The United States had purchased the Louisiana territory, more than 830,000 square miles, from France in 1803. Jefferson chose Meriwether Lewis to lead the expedition, and with Jefferson's permission Lewis asked his friend and former commanding officer William Clark to serve as co-leader. Although opposite in temperament, Lewis and Clark worked harmoniously throughout the two-year journey, and the land they explored has since been altered by dammed rivers, cut-over forests, plowed prairies, and roads stretching to the horizon.
