INTRODUCTION

The Story of Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark
For Young Americans

PAGE 3 OF 8

 

   post near the head of Lake Superior, and the Sioux Indians who visited him there had related most wonderful things about the region which they said lay between their own country and the setting sun.

Anxious to be the first to explore that mysterious land, he laid his plans before the king of France, hoping to receive some sort of aid. The king was very much pleased, and was entirely willing that he should undertake the expedition at his own expense. He told Verendrye that he might have the exclusive trade in furs in whatever country he should discover, but as for any further encouragement he must not expect it.

Like other explorers, some of whom have been more successful than he, Verendrye was not to be discouraged. In 1731, with his three sons and a company of Canadian adventurers, he set out for the distant West. Early in the following year the party reached the western shore of the Lake of the Woods, and there built a fort. This was hundreds of miles beyond any other post or settlement that had yet been established.

Here Verendrye remained for four or five years, trading with the Indians and exploring vast stretches of country on every side. In 1738, he pushed still farther west, and built a log fort on

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