All language subtitles for Lewis and Clark Great Journey West (2002).en

NARRATOR: "Honored Parents.

I am now on an expedition
to the westward,

with Captain Lewis
and Captain Clark,

who are appointed by the President
of the United States...

to go through the interior parts
of North America...

to ascend the Missouri River
with a boat...

and then to go
to the western ocean.

If we live to return...

and if we make Great Discoveries
as we expect...

the United States has promised
to make us Great Rewards."

They were a small party
charged with going

where no one from the outside world
had ever gone,

to open one of the last great
wilderness regions of Earth...

a place they thought might still
hold woolly mammoths

and other prehistoric creatures.

To find out what was really
out there and to survive

was the equivalent in its day

of a journey to the moon.

To lead this dangerous expedition,

President Thomas Jefferson
chose his chief aide, Meriwether Lewis,

a skilled soldier and woodsman.

He called him a man
"of courage undaunted

with qualifications as if
implanted by nature

for this express purpose."

He was only 28.

Lewis wanted a co-captain
for such a long and risky mission-

his old army commander William Clark,
who was four years older,

an expert mapmaker and river man,
and a proven leader.

Lewis asked Clark to join him...

LEWIS: "...in this enterprise,
with its dangers and honors.

There is no man on Earth

with whom I should feel equal pleasure
in sharing them as yourself."

NARRATOR: Clark answered Lewis' letter...

CLARK: "My friend, I join you
with hand and heart."

NARRATOR: Many feared
they would never return.

But if they made it,

they would forever change
the course of history.

At the time, the great powers
of the world

could only guess what existed
in the uncharted West.

Native Americans already
called this land home,

but other nations hoped
for a wealth of natural riches

and had staked competing claims-

Britain, to Canada
and the Oregon Country...

Russia, the Pacific Northwest...

Spain, the west
and parts of the south...

France, an immense tract
called Louisiana.

By sending an expedition
into foreign land,

Thomas Jefferson hoped to open
the West up for the United States.

In 1803, a surprise:

Napoleon offered to sell
the entire Louisiana Territory.

The US quickly purchased it
for $15 million,

more than doubling
the size of the nation.

To cross this unknown land

would be among the most ambitious
and difficult journeys ever conceived.

Clark wrote in his journal...

CLARK: "...all in health
and readiness to set out.

Boats and everything complete,

with the necessary stores
of provisions...

though not as much
as I think necessary

for the multitude of Indians
through which we must pass."

NARRATOR: They pushed off
upstream from St. Louis-

young American soldiers
and French-Canadian river men

handpicked for strength
and wilderness skills.

Among them, a man named York,

Clark's slave and companion
since childhood.

All were leaving their families
behind for years.

Their main mission
was to find a water route

to the Pacific
and the Orient beyond-

the long-hoped-for Northwest Passage.

[dog barking]

Lewis was a studious
and solitary man.

Under Jefferson,
he had been trained

to observe and record for science
every new thing he saw,

and he spent hours
exploring alone with his dog.

In this unfamiliar territory,

just collecting a specimen
could be dangerous.

Only two days out,
Lewis had nearly lost his life-

with a long journey still ahead.

But a greater challenge
they faced every day-

the backbreaking work
of moving tons of gear upriver

against the full flood of the powerful,
unpredictable Missouri.

William Clark...

CLARK: "The sergeant at the helm

run under a bending tree
and broke the mast."

"I am tormented
with mosquitoes and ticks."

NARRATOR: Meriwether Lewis...

LEWIS: "The barge run foul
three times today on logs.

Happily no injury was sustained,

though the barge was
in imminent danger."

CLARK: "...passed a bad sandbar,
where our tow rope broke twice."

"A storm struck our boat

and would have thrown her
up on the sand island

and dashed to pieces
in an instant

had not the party leaped out
and kept her off."

NARRATOR: Some days they made
only a few miles,

with more than 3,000 to go.

Clark was a practical
and plain-spoken man.

He usually commanded
the men on the river

and kept records to make
an accurate new map of the West.

As they pushed up the Missouri,
toward present-day Omaha, Nebraska,

they were deep into Indian lands.

Traders and trappers
had been up here,

but no well-armed military party.

CLARK: "A party of Oto and Missouri Nation
came to camp.

Captain Lewis and myself
sent them some roasted meat.

In return they sent us watermelons."

[gunshot]

CLARK: "Been up the greater part
of last night with Sergeant Floyd,

who is as bad as he can be.

He expired,

having said to me before his death
that he was going away.

We buried him with all
the honors of war, much lamented."

NARRATOR: They pushed on
into the heart of the Great Plains.

LEWIS: "The immense river

waters one of the fairest
portions of the globe,

nor do I believe that there is
in this universe

a similar extent of country."

NARRATOR: In this vast grassland,
Lewis discovered new species,

including animals that barked-
like "little toy dogs," he wrote.

[high-pitched barking]

They would be named prairie dogs.

[low rumbling]

[rumbling grows stronger]

Where there were buffalo,
there were also buffalo hunters.

Lewis and Clark were under orders
to be friendly with native tribes.

LEWIS: Children, we have been sent...

NARRATOR: Lewis also let them know-
in full military dress-

that the United States
now claimed their land.

There were only medals
and small gifts for now.

But in the future,
Lewis told them,

other Americans would arrive
with a wealth of trade goods.

LEWIS: ...and to inform you that
a great council was lately held,

between this great chief
and your old fathers.

NARRATOR: Lewis and Clark were passing
through a world unknown to them,

but well-known to the Arikara,
Sioux, and Omaha...

to the Crow, Cheyenne and Blackfeet...

to more than 170 tribes

and hundreds of thousands of people
living west of the Mississippi...

hunters, farmers, fishermen.

Some traded peacefully,
some were regularly at war.

The Teton Sioux were
the most powerful tribe

on the middle Missouri.

They controlled traffic
on that stretch of the river

and had stopped traders before.

The expedition now
approached Teton land,

and a tribe that had
the superior numbers

to annihilate them.

The encounter did not go well.

CLARK: "Three of their young men
seized the cable of the boat...

and the second chief
was very insolent...

declaring I should not go on."

NARRATOR: Finally, Chief Black Buffalo
waved his men off.

The entire expedition
could have ended that day,

near the present site
of Pierre, South Dakota.

They had come some 1,600 miles
in five months,

but ahead lay the long, bitter cold
of winter on the northern prairie.

[drum beating]

Lewis and Clark hoped to stay
near the Mandan and Hidatsa,

buffalo hunters who were
often visited by traders.

The tribes welcomed them
as friends,

and the Mandan called them
Maci, "the pretty people."

Together, their five villages
were home to some 4,000 people,

more than lived in St. Louis
at the time.

Nearby the expedition settled in
for five months of bone-chilling cold.

CLARK: "The thermometer stood
at 45 degrees below zero..."

"...snowed all day,
ice ran thick and air cold..."

"...three men frostbit badly."

NARRATOR: The captains knew almost
nothing about the land of the west.

They hired an interpreter-

a French fur trader
named Charbonneau.

He had two young Shoshone wives
captured by the Hidatsa in a raid.

The captains asked him
to bring one along

to help interpret on the trip.

She was about 16 years old,
and pregnant.

The Hidatsa called her "Sacagawea."

Tribal leaders such as Black Cat

told them of a chain of mountains
far to the west

that could be crossed
in half a day...

but they would need horses.

Sacagawea's tribe,
the Shoshone,

would have horses
and might help.

In winter quarters
they called Fort Mandan,

the captains prepared a shipment
for President Jefferson

to be taken back downriver
by some of the men in spring.

Clark drew a map of the land

while Lewis packed
what he had collected,

including dozens of new
plant and animal species.

[baby cooing]

Sacagawea gave birth
in February,

a difficult labor
assisted by Lewis.

Tiny Jean Baptiste Charbonneau

became the final member
of the expedition.

LEWIS: "We were now
about to penetrate a country

in which the foot of civilized man
had never trodden;

the good or evil it had in store for us
was yet to determine.

I could but esteem
this moment of my departure

among the most happy of my life."

NARRATOR: Sacagawea quickly grew
more important to the expedition.

She showed them edible
plants and roots-

white apples, wild artichokes
and licorice.

When a boat overturned
in a strong wind,

it was Sacagawea who saved
their most important items.

Off the river, they faced
other challenges.

MAN: Run!

[gunshot]

[bear growling]

[growling]

In present-day Montana,

the expedition came
to a fork in the river-

and a critical decision.

LEWIS: "Which of these rivers
was the Missouri.

To mistake the stream

would not only lose us
the whole of this season

but would probably
so dishearten the party

that it might defeat
the expedition altogether.

NARRATOR: The Hidatsa
had told the captains

to look for a waterfall as proof
that they were still on the Missouri.

What Lewis found

would test the strength
and spirit of his men.

The Great Falls of the Missouri
were five massive cascades.

To continue,
they would have to carry

everything vital to the expedition

on a detour more than 17 miles
around the falls over rough terrain.

CLARK: "We all believe
that we are about to enter

on the most perilous and difficult
part of our voyage.

All appear perfectly
to have made up their minds

to succeed in the expedition
or perish in the attempt."

LEWIS: "At every halt
these poor fellows tumble down

and are asleep in an instant.

Some are limping
from the soreness of their feet,

others faint and unable to stand...

yet all go with cheerfulness."

NARRATOR: The grueling portage
left the men badly worn down

with mountains still to come.

But they willingly followed
their captains-

very different men, who seemed
to command as one.

There is no record
the two friends ever argued

or disagreed
on an important decision.

They had lost almost
a month at the falls,

and they needed
to find the Shoshone,

and obtain horses,
before the cold weather set in.

Sacagawea now recognized
places from her youth

and could help guide the men.

But the Shoshone
remained elusive.

Finally, Lewis set out
with a scouting party

to search for them.

LEWIS: "if we do not find them,

I fear the successful issue
of our voyage

will be very doubtful."

NARRATOR: Clark
and the rest of the men

labored on through frigid water
that was barely passable.

They planned to reunite further upriver
once Lewis had found the Shoshone.

Ahead somewhere was
the Missouri's source.

From there, the men hoped
for a quick mountain crossing,

and then an easy ride downstream
to the Pacific Ocean.

Ahead of the boats,
Lewis made an historic discovery.

LEWIS: "I had accomplished
one of those great objects

on which my mind has been
unalterably fixed for many years."

NARRATOR The source
of the great Missouri River

had finally been found.

From the continental divide above,

Lewis hoped to see a river
heading westward toward the ocean.

Instead, he confronted a scene
of crushing disappointment.

LEWIS: "I discovered immense ranges
of high mountains

still to the west of us

with their tops partially
covered with snow."

NARRATOR: The need for horses
was now more important than ever.

The very next day,

Lewis finally made contact
with the Shoshone

and persuaded them to accompany him
to meet with Clark on the river.

Once again, the fate
of the entire expedition

was in the hands of native people,

who had never seen
strangers like these before.

As Sacagawea began to interpret,

the stakes could hardly
have been higher.

Suddenly she paused.

[speaking Shoshone language]

Across the years of separation
from her tribe,

Sacagawea recognized Cameahwait,
the Shoshone chief.

He was her brother.

[speaking French]

As the translation proceeded

from Shoshone to Hidatsa
to French to English,

the two captains
must have realized

that once again they were
extraordinarily lucky.

They would have their horses.

They spent more than two weeks
with the Shoshone-

a time of reunion for one,
and rest for them all.

But ahead, a mountain barrier,
whose size no one had anticipated,

loomed like a monster
with a hundred heads.

The United States
lay behind them now;

ahead, lands claimed
by Britain, Spain and Russia.

They entered the Bitterroot Range
of the Rocky Mountains

near today's Montana-Idaho border.

An early storm brought bitter cold

and made a dangerous crossing
even more difficult,

coating the steep slopes
in snow and ice.

Their Shoshone guide, "old Toby,"
even lost the way for a time.

CLARK: "I could observe
high, rugged mountains

in every direction
as far as I could see."

NARRATOR: Worst of all,
there was almost no game.

The crossing became
a starvation trek.

LEWIS: "We suffered everything cold,
hunger and fatigue could impart."

CLARK: "I have been wet
and as cold in every part

as I ever was in my life,

indeed I was at one time
fearful my feet would freeze

in the thin moccasins
which I wore."

[horse whinnying]

NARRATOR: After two agonizing weeks,
they had nothing left to eat

but a little soup, bear oil,
and candles.

Desperate, Clark and
a small party went ahead

hoping to find a way
out of the mountains.

Clark finally found a way down
from the snow-covered mountains

to a lush, open country.

They were found by children
of the Nez Perce tribe

and made their way
to a nearby village.

As the story goes, the strangers
might have been killed,

but for an old woman named Watkuweis
who pleaded for their lives.

For two weeks, the Nez Perce
provided food and comfort.

Lewis would later call the Nez Perce

"...the most hospitable, honest
and sincere people

we met with in our voyage."

For the first time since setting out
17 months before,

they were going downstream.

But ahead were rapids so dangerous

the nearby tribes gathered
to watch the white men drown.

[eagle shrieks]

They were heading
down the Columbia...

the great river of the Northwest.

It was the last highway
leading to the Pacific,

the realm of tribes such as the Yakima,
Umatilla, Walla Walla and Chinook.

There was one all-consuming
thing on their minds.

CLARK: "...this great Pacific Ocean

which we have been
so long anxious to see."

CLARK: Captain Lewis...

NARRATOR: Finally the moment
was at hand...

after a year and a half
of exhausting struggle.

CLARK: Ocean in view!

[cheering]

NARRATOR:
Lewis must have felt triumphant.

His party had done what many
considered impossible-

they had made it all the way
to the Pacific alive.

CLARK: "The men appear
much satisfied with their trip,

beholding with astonishment
the high waves dashing the rocks

and this immense ocean."

LEWIS: Gentlemen, lend an ear.

NARRATOR: It was late in the season,

and they had to face the reality
of another long winter far from home.

The captains asked the entire corps

to vote on the location
of a winter campsite...

LEWIS: Very well.
Second option, on the south bank.

NARRATOR: ...the first time
in recorded U.S. history

that a slave or a woman
was allowed to vote.

Near what is now Astoria, Oregon,
they built winter quarters-

named Fort Clatsop
after the nearby coastal tribe.

They traded with their Indian neighbors
for salmon, berries, and roots...

and settled in
for four miserable months.

There were only twelve days
without rain.

The winter dampened
their spirits as well.

They were homesick and longed to see
their loved ones back in the States.

Most at home assumed
they were dead.

Nearly two years after setting out,
they headed back upriver,

crossing land now charted
on Clark's new map.

The return trip would take
only six months.

In the end, the journey
opened up the West

to their fellow countrymen.

It was the beginning of a new era
for the United States.

But the Native American way of life
would never be the same.

They had passed
among some 50 tribes,

without whose help
they might never have returned.

None played a greater role
in their success

than the young woman
at their side.

At the Mandan
and Hidatsa villages,

they bid farewell to Sacagawea,
who stayed behind with her family.

She had endured every danger
and deprivation,

while also caring for a child.

Most of the men
would never see her again.

28 months after setting out,

Lewis and Clark reached St. Louis,
ending an 8,000-mile odyssey.

They were acclaimed
as national heroes...

the first U.S. citizens
to cross the continent.

Lewis had described at least 178 plants
and 122 animals new to science.

Clark had drawn
new and accurate maps

that would guide the next
generation of pioneers.

Together, they had blazed
the path of their nation's future.

Friends to the end, the two captains
met very different fates.

Meriwether Lewis was named
governor of the Louisiana Territory,

but he fell into a deep depression

and is believed to have
taken his own life

only three years
after the expedition.

By contrast, William Clark
went on to a life of success,

serving as governor
of the Missouri Territory.

So different in nature, the two
never lost admiration for one another.

Clark was a father
to ten children.

His firstborn he named
Meriwether Lewis Clark.