"Oh God, you're late! What happened? Was the train robbed?"
"They tried and put a cow and turkeys on the track. But the engineer was fearless and put more coals in the engine!"
"Oh no! Poor animals!"
"Nothing happened to them, the cow ran over the bandits and the turkeys pecked them!"
Hello cowboys and cowgirls!
After a two-week break, we're back with your favourite feature, each time bringing the tension to boiling point and yet no date. That will change soon.
Let's talk about two men who discovered the bridge from East to West for the Europeans. A considerable part of the United States was still terra incognita for the colonists from Europe. The East had already spawned the first big cities, and the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles had also sprung up in the West, but the route from East to West was one big Unknown.
Thus in 1803, preparations began for an expedition across the country, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The two of them, with a large group of men, set out from 14 May 1804 up the Missouri towards its source. They met the Sioux on their way, a tense encounter. Later, a French trapper and his wife from the Shoshone tribe joined the group and served as their guides.
A little over a year later, the expedition reached Great Falls, then Three Forks in Montana in the summer. The group traded horses to cross the Rocky Mountains, which were more arduous for them to conquer than they had thought. With great difficulty they reached Clearwater River, then Snake River and finally the Columbia River. But a second winter was approaching and the whole group decided to camp together at Fort Clatsop on the Pacific Ocean. In 1805, it was hardly commonplace that a slave and an indigenous woman, as members of the group, were democratically involved in such a decision, which made this vote quintessentially All-American.
The return journey took place in 1806 and Lewis and Clark each sought new ways to cross the mountains before meeting again at the Missouri in August of the same year.
The big question which you can answer is: Why were Lewis & Clark so much faster on the way back than on the way there? Did they forget to turn off the cooker? Did they try to get home before Thanksgiving? As always, feel free to leave feedback here or on our social media channels!