Often referred to as America's national epic of exploration, the 28-month Lewis and Clark expedition was certainly America's greatest odyssey. Commissioned in 1804 by Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off on the greatest wilderness trip ever recorded. Beginning in St. Louis, they navigated up the Missouri River and through the prairies, enduring a winter with the Mandan Indians in North Dakota, reaching the summit of the Rocky Mountains and then following the Columbia River to their final destination, the Pacific Ocean. Trained in natural history and in the methods of collecting plant and animal samples, Lewis and Clark carefully and meticulously recorded the conditions of the rivers, prairies, forests, mountains, and wildlife of pre-industrial America. Daniel B. Botkin, a botanist and naturalist, re-creates the journey--taking readers on an ecological adventure back to the landscape of the great American West. In retracing their steps, Botkin reveals what this western landscape actually looked like and how much it's been changed by modern civilization and technology. Botkin shows us that from the explorers' observations, we can learn much about the environment of our past, our environment today, and what our environment might be in the future. -- back cover.

Reprint : title page verso : Paragraph Education edition 2019 no title page. Originally published : New York, NY : Putnam, ©1995.

A road through the wilderness -- Meanders : nature and the Missouri River -- Wet and dry mud -- Thirty-seven grizzly bears in the wilderness -- A measured journey -- Buffalo and winter on the plains : technology meets wilderness -- Wolves, people, and biological diversity -- Through the mountains -- Down the Columbia -- Winter and wood on the Pacific Coast -- The return through prairie country.