Lewis & Clark at Big Bone Lick
Adapted from the National Park Service:
Meriwether Lewis traveled to Big Bone Lick in October 1803 on his way west to join William Clark and the men assembling in Louisville for the Corps of Discovery. Lewis sent a box of Big Bone specimens back to President Jefferson.
Jefferson devoted much time to the study of Big Bone Lick and believed that some of the large animals might still be living in the western regions of the country.
In 1807, after the Corps of Discovery disbanded, Jefferson sent Clark to Big Bone Lick for the first organized vertebra paleontology expedition in the United States. Clark employed laborers and collected enough bones in three weeks’ time to ship three huge boxes to the President.
Jefferson had a room in the White House to display the Big Bone collection. The collection was divided and shipped to the National Institute of France in Paris, to Philadelphia, and to Jefferson’s personal collection, which was unfortunately ground into fertilizer by a careless servant.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
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