What lies ahead?
Lewis and Clark - Courtesy of www.visiteasternoregon.com
When Thomas Jefferson dispatched Lewis and Clark to find a water route across North America and explore the uncharted West, he expected they'd encounter woolly mammoths, erupting volcanoes, and a mountain of pure salt. What they found was no less surprising.
In May 1804, the 45-member expedition left St. Louis, Missouri, in three boats. Jefferson’s private secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and his friend William Clark led the expedition. Its members included soldiers, frontiersmen, and an African American slave named York, who worked for Clark.
Their expedition was difficult right from the start. Rowing upstream against the Missouri River’s strong current left the explorers’ hands blistered and their muscles sore. In addition to the hard labor the natural elements of the environment didn't help. Coming across unknown wildlife, put their amazed and terrified them.
In May 1804, the 45-member expedition left St. Louis, Missouri, in three boats. Jefferson’s private secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and his friend William Clark led the expedition. Its members included soldiers, frontiersmen, and an African American slave named York, who worked for Clark.
Their expedition was difficult right from the start. Rowing upstream against the Missouri River’s strong current left the explorers’ hands blistered and their muscles sore. In addition to the hard labor the natural elements of the environment didn't help. Coming across unknown wildlife, put their amazed and terrified them.
SS.8.A.4.3: Examine the experiences and perspectives of significant individuals and groups during this era of American History
Task: Wildlife
Close your eyes and imagine that you are seeing a herd of 3,000 buffalo stampeding toward you, or that a 500-pound grizzly bear has you in its sights and is barreling towards you, drooling and ready to hunt you down for a snack. What would you be feeling? Would you want to go back? How would you handle it?
Analyze the pictures, primary sources, and maps below to put yourself in Lewis and Clark's shoes and see how they felt about these encounters.
Analyze the pictures, primary sources, and maps below to put yourself in Lewis and Clark's shoes and see how they felt about these encounters.
Now, you stand with the "Great Plains" before you, and like Lewis and Clark, you've run into your fair share of wild animals (and people). You must then choose one of the animals and write a journal entry describing your first encounter with it. Explain what you're seeing, feeling, doing, etc.
Submit a journal entry of at least one paragraph that describes your first encounter with either a buffalo herd or a grizzly bear. Be sure to pull in some of the primary and secondary source information you have just analyzed. Your journal entry should be based on Lewis & Clark's experiences with a little bit of creativity... You are NOT writing a completely fictional or silly story.
Title your entry: "Wildlife".
Submit a journal entry of at least one paragraph that describes your first encounter with either a buffalo herd or a grizzly bear. Be sure to pull in some of the primary and secondary source information you have just analyzed. Your journal entry should be based on Lewis & Clark's experiences with a little bit of creativity... You are NOT writing a completely fictional or silly story.
Title your entry: "Wildlife".