Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery - Cairo, IL
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 36° 59.256 W 089° 09.022
16S E 308625 N 4095658
This Lewis and Clark marker is located at the entrance of the Fort Defiance State Park in the very southern tip of Illinois.
Waymark Code: WM16ZK2
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 11/07/2022
Views: 2
County of marker: Alexander County
Location of marker: Jct. US-51, US-60, US-62, entrance to Fort Defiance, Cairo
Marker erected by: Eastern Lewis and Clark Expedition
Date marker erected: 2003
Marker text:
CHARTING THE CONFLUENCE
On November 14, 1803, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, the Corps of Discovery stayed for six days, one of the longest stops made by the expedition. Here, they saw the Mississippi for the first time, noted the mistletoe on the large timber and to their surprise, caught a 128 pound blue catfish. Their stay allowed Captain Lewis to teach Captain Clark the use of the navigational equipment: a compass and sextant. Becaus4 of the 3rd Principle Meridian begins at the mouth of the Ohio, astronomical observations at this point were crucial.
CORPS OF DISCOVERY
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned U.S. Army officers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to conduct an expedition to the Pacific coast through a region entirely unknown to European civilization. Their assignment - to cross the North American continent from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean by way of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers. They left from Pittsburgh on the Ohio River August 31, 1803, on the Eastern Legacy of the trip.
EASTERN LEGACY
This area south of Cairo, in Alexander County, where the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers meet, was forested with massive cottonwood and sycamore trees and there was a thick covering of small cane and vines. In this area, they recorded over 178 plants and 122 animal species, including prairie chickens, Carolina parakeets, doves, swans, Canada geese, woodpeckers, and many species of ducks. Their expedition and startling discoveries opened the door for westward expansion and the growth of a new nation - a legacy for the last 200 years.
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