Subject: Technology

Details:

Construction
At least one of the Expedition was an accomplished carpenter, but construction of three winter camps as well as furniture to make life a little more bearable inside Wood River camp, Fort Mandan and Fort Clatsop kept several men busy with their axes and other limited equipment during those longer lay-overs. On the trail, tents were the primary shelters.

Food Processing
Gathering and preparing foods on the journey was an everyday priority. Lewis and Clark lived in a time before we knew about food bacteria and how diseases spread through lack of cleanliness in cooking or improper preservation. Much of the meat the Expedition carried and stored was "jerked" (dried over smoky fires or in the sun). Indians used these methods as well, often pounding their fish or meat with berries to make a high-energy food that would keep well if stored in a dry place.

Materials Handling/Storage
Lewis and Clark were careful planners and devised innovative ways to carry and store goods. One noteworthy example was the gunpowder for their ammunition. Lewis molded lead containers, filled each with gunpowder, and sealed them tightly with lids of molten lead making them waterproof, but heavy. The lead could be melted to make bullets and buckshot. The men would distribute the cannisters between canoes so if a boat capsized and the load lost, they would still have a way to kill animals and protect themselves. They also knew they would need fresh goods for the return trip, so built caches (underground storage areas with narrow opening at the top, then camoflaged) to keep food, specimens, tobacco, and ammunition. The larger boats used on the Missouri were also hidden away for the homeward trip.

Manufacturing
A blacksmith (metalworker) in the Corps carried his forge and portable anvil on the journey, and his skills proved vital at various points along the way. To trade for food and supplies, the Expedition would sometimes offer to sharpen and repair Indians’ tools and weapons. At one point the blacksmith devised a war axe that the Corps discovered the Indians liked, so they manufactured a number of these using metal they had brought on the trip.

Transportation
Since most of the journey would be by water, the Expedition used a variety of boats for their journey: a large keelboat manufactured in Pittsburgh and moved down the Ohio River to their staging grounds at Wood River near St. Louis; a keelboat could be moved by rowing or polling or pulling from shore using long lines. two? pirogues resembling large-sized canoes, but which would also accept a crude sail; dugout canoes which could be built by the men or purchased by trading with local tribes; bull boats, which used a buffalo hide stretched around a cylindrical frame made of curved willow branches. One example of a vehicle that did not fully go through its development cycle was Lewis’s "iron boat", another innovative idea Lewis created that looked good on paper. A collapsible iron strap frame would be covered by hides to make for easier portage and "higher riding" conveyance on more shallow rivers. However, the first test of this idea failed when the men had no reliable sealant for the seams and the embarrassing experiment was quickly forgotten.

Animal Care
Caring for both large and small animals was a skill most of the men likely grew up with. Lewis purchased his large dog Seaman in Pittsburgh while waiting for the keelboat to be finished. Seaman was a Newfoundland and must have been a big eater in his own right. The journals record the capture of several small animals and birds which were sent back to Jefferson and that required daily feeding and water. The Corps’ largest animals were the horses whose stamina was needed for the mountains and high deserts in present-day Montana, Idaho and Washington state. The Nez Perce and Shoshone Tribes traded with the Expedition for horses and a band of the Nez Perce near present-day Kamiah, Idaho cared for the Expedition’s steeds during the winter of 1805-1806.

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