Lewis & Clark and Westward Expansion: Into the Unknown
From St. Charles to the storm-soaked Pacific — the explorers, fur-trade rendezvous, and wagon trains that pulled a young nation across the continent.
15 narrated stories — read them here, or hear them all in the app.
St. Charles
The Last Town Before the Unknown
A departure from St. Charles into a continent-sized question mark.
Sergeant Floyd Monument
Where Charles Floyd Is Remembered
How one loss on the expedition became Sioux City’s enduring memorial.
McLean County
William Clark’s Winter of Listening at Fort Mandan
A winter when maps were made through relationships as much as observation.
Great Falls of the Missouri
When One Waterfall Became Five
Lewis finds not one barrier, but a gauntlet of falls and misery.
Lemhi County
When Sacagawea Met Cameahwait
A family reunion that changed a desperate journey west.
Cape Disappointment
When the Pacific Finally Appeared
A storm-soaked arrival at the edge of the continent.
Fort Clatsop
At the Edge of the Continent, a Hard Winter
Rain, hunger, and uneasy trade shaped a winter at Fort Clatsop.
Green River Rendezvous Site
Where the Fur Trade Came to Life
A lively portrait of the Green River rendezvous at fur trade’s high-water mark.
Fort Laramie National Historic Site
When a Trading Post Became Fort Laramie
A fur post on the Platte became a military crossroads of the West.
Pocatello
Fort Hall and the Choice to Go On
A fur post became a crossroads of nerve, warning, and westward ambition.
Scotts Bluff National Monument
The Bluff That Meant You Were Getting Somewhere
Why a Nebraska bluff became the overland trail’s great sign of progress.
Windlass Hill
Holding the Wagons on Windlass Hill
At Ash Hollow, gravity turned a trail descent into a test of nerve.
Alcove Spring
Before the Wrong Turn: Alcove Spring, 1846
At Alcove Spring, the Donner-Reed party was still on the known road west.
Old Franklin Archeological District
Where the Santa Fe Trail First Gathered Steam
How a vanished river town launched westbound trade from Missouri.
Stanton County
The Shortcut That Could Leave You Thirsty
Why traders risked the Cimarron Cutoff’s dry gamble.
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