William Clark's
Challenging Choices

used with permission from the Jefferson Expansion Memorial's
The Lewis and Clark Journey of Discovery website.

 

LEVEL 1

1. Approximately how many miles did the Journey of Discovery cover?

      A. 4,000 miles
      B. 12,000 miles
      C. 8,000 miles

2. What was the beginning date of the expedition?

      A. May 14, 1804
      B. July 4, 1804
      C. March 9, 1804

3. What was the ending date of the expedition?

      A. July 4, 1806
      B. September 23, 1806
      C. March 23, 1806

4. How long did the expedition last?

      A. 2 years, 10 months, 4 days
      B. Two years exactly
      C. 2 years, 4 months, 10 days

 

LEVEL 2

5. What was the starting point of the journey?

      A. Kahokia, Illinois
      B. Downtown St. Louis, Missouri
      C. Camp Wood on Wood River (River Dubois), Illinois

6. What was the major purpose for the Journey of Discovery?

      A. Find a practical, primarily water-borne route across North America.
      B. Take a census of the Native American population on the Missouri River.
      C. Survey the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase.

7. How did the Corps of Discovery obtain the horses they used to cross the Rocky Mountains?

      A. They rounded up wild horses in Montana.
      B. They bargained for them with Shoshone Indians.
      C. They took them all the way from St. Louis.

8. The original expedition was estimated to cost $2,500. How much did it actually cost?

      A. $38,722
      B. It was completed under budget.
      C. It cost nearly 100 times more than the estimate.

 

LEVEL 3

9. Why were the explorers such poor spellers?

      A. Very few of them ever attended school.
      B. Other languages were very strong influences on the English language.
      C. English language was not standardized and there was not a dictionary.

10. Fort Clatsop got its name from:

      A. The Clatsop River in the state of Washington.
      B. Local American Indians; Clatsop means "dried salmon people."
      C. The member of the expedition who found the site of the fort.

11. Sacagawea's son was born in the Mandan villages and his name was:

      A. Toussaint Charbonneau
      B. Camehawait
      C. Jean Baptiste

12. In 1804, St. Louis was

      A. approximately 200 buildings inhabited by 1000 people.
      B. a single fur-trading post managed by approximately 10 mountain men.
      C. a major trading center for the American Indian tribes of the Mississippi River.

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 ANSWERS

1. A

Though a direct trip from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back covers much less than 8,000 miles, Lewis & Clark and their corps of discovery followed rivers which strayed far from a direct route.

2. A

The expedition left Camp Wood on May 14, 1804. This is generally considered the beginning of the the journey.

3. B

On their return trip, the explorers reached St. Louis on September 23, 1806.

4. C

5. C

6. A

Though President Jefferson also asked for a census of the people the expedition encountered and for a survey of the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase, the major purpose of the expedition was to find a commercially viable, primarily water-borne route across the continent.

7. B

8. A

On January 18th, 1803, President Jefferson secretly requested of the Congress of the United States $2500 to fund an expedition to the west. "An intelligent officer with ten or twelve chosen men," Jefferson wrote, "fit for the enterprize and willing to undertake it...might explore the whole line, even to the Western ocean."

9. A

10. B

11. C

His full name was Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, and Captain Clark nicknamed him "Pomp" or "Pompey."

12. A

 

 

©2005 Daniel Slosberg
info@cruzatte.com • (310) 880-5828