Mapping the Expedition

Selected Maps from the Library of Congress

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Title: Carte de la Louisiane et des pays voisins
Author: Jacques Bellin
Date: 1762?
Significance: This map by French hydrographer and mapmaker Bellin shows the French view of "La Louisiane" (Louisiana) roughly 40 years before the Louisiana Purchase, when the territory was sold to the United States. Most areas accessible by river show numerous details, including native villages, forts, mines, and missions. However, the Northwest is labeled simply "Vast Country Entirely Unknown."

Title: North America from the Mississippi River to the Pacific between the 35th and 60th parallels of latitude
Author: Unknown
Date: 179-?
Significance: This map from the 1790s shows how little was known about the western United States just a decade before the Lewis & Clark expedition. Virtually no features appear between 112 degrees W and the Pacific Ocean except a wildly off-course Missouri River, which is shown originating somewhere in Utah.

Title: Lewis and Clark Map, with annotations in brown by Meriwether Lewis, tracing showing the Mississippi, Missouri for a short distance above Kansas, Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Winnipeg, and the Country onwards to the Pacific
Author: Nicholas King
Date: 1803?
Significance: Lewis and Clark used this map to prepare for the expedition, and it is believed they carried it on the expedition. Notes made by Lewis can be seen in brown ink in several areas, especially in the area around Bismark and Mandan, North Dakota. Much of the course of the Missouri is shown as a dotted line, and the word "Conjectural" spans the area between 115 and 100 degrees west. However, the Pacific coast is displayed with a fair amount of detail from southern British Columbia to Oregon. A note stating "The Indians say they Sleep 8 Nights before they get to the sea" is visible east of Puget Sound, indicating some knowledge of the areas west of the Rocky Mountains.

Title: A Map of Lewis and Clark's track, across the western portion of North American from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean; by order of the executive of the United States in 1804,5 & 6, copied by Samuel Lewis from the original drawing of Wm. Clark.
Author: Samuel Lewis
Date: 1814
Significance: Drawn from the field notes of William Clark, this map shows incredible detail, especially compared to the King map. Many notes about events of the expedition appear on the map, as well as place names and population estimates of native villages. In addition, this map shows the many chains of mountains and valleys that make up the "Rocky Mountains," in contrast to the King map, which showed a single range.

Title: A new map of North America from the latest authorities
Author: John Cary
Date: 1811
Significance: Published several years after the Lewis & Clark expedition, this map demonstrates how slowly information spread in this era. The western United States remains a mystery (to this cartographer, at least) except for the "Stony Mountains," shown as a narrow band interrupting an otherwise vast plain between the Missouri River and the coastal ranges.