“ nature of the Toure may require, which I suppose had best be fowarded to Louisville.

"The objects of this Plan of Governments are great and worthy of that great Charecctor [ sic -- Ed. ] the Main-spring of its action--the means with which we are furnished to carry it into effect, I think may be sufficiently liberal--the plan of operation, as laid down by you (with a small addition as to the out fee) I highly approve of--

"I shall indeavor to engage (temporally) a feew [ sic -- Ed. ] men, such as will best answer our purpose, holding out the Idea as stated in your letter--the subject of which has been mentioned in Louisville several weeks ago.

"Pray write to me by every post after recving this letter, I shall be exceedingly anxious to here from you.”

This letter is in the Jefferson Papers in the Library of Congress and is probably therefore the one referred to in Clark’s letter to Jefferson, dated from Clarksville July 24: “I had the honor of receiving thro Captain M. Lewis an assureunce of your Approbation & wish that I would join him in a North Western enterprise. I will chearfully, and with great pleasure join my friend Capt Lewis in this Vast enterprise, and shall arrange my business to as to be in readiness to leave this soon after his arrival. May I request the favour of you to forward the inclosed letter to Capt Lewis, should he not be with you . . .”

Lewis had not received Clark’s acceptance on July 26, on which day he wrote to Jefferson from Pittsburgh: “I have recieved as yet no answer from M ^r. Clark; in the event of M ^r. Clark’s declining to accompany me Lieut Hooke of this place has engaged to do so, if permitted; and I think from his disposition and qualifications that I might safely calculate on being as ably assisted by him in the execution of the objects of my mission, as I could wish, or would be, by any other officer in the Army . . .”

Lewis had previously written to Jefferson from Pittsburgh on July 2, and had given him a report on the delay in building his boat, on the arrival of the waggons from Harper’s Ferry, the arrival of the party of recruits to accompany the expedition, and closed: “. . . The current of the Ohio is extreemly low and continues to decline, this may impede my progress but shall not prevent my proceeding, being determined to get forward though I should not be able to make greater distance than a mile p ^r. day.”

On September 8 Lewis reported to Jefferson from Wheeling: “It was not untill 7 O’Clock on the morning of the 31 ^st. Ultm ^o. that my boat was completed, she was instantly loaded, and at 10. A. M. on the same day I left Pittsburgh, where I had been moste shamefully detained by the unpardonable negligence of my boatbuilder. On my arrival at Pittsburgh, my calculation was that the boat would be in readiness by the 5 ^th. of August; this term however elapsed and the boat so far from being finished was only partially planked on one side; in this situation I had determined to abandon the boat, and to purchase two or three perogues and descend the river in them, and depend on purchasing a boat as I descended, there being none to be had at Pittsburgh; from this resolution I was dissuaded first by the representations of the best informed merchants at that place who assured me that the chances were much against my being able to procure a boat below; and secondly by the positive assureances given me by the boat-builder that she should be ready on the last of the then ensuing week (the 13 ^th.): however a few days after, according to his usual custom he got drunk, quarrelled with his workmen, and several of them left him, nor could they be prevailed on to return: I threatened him with the penalty of his contract, and exacted a promise of greater sobriety, in future which, he took care to perform with as little good faith, as he had his previous promises with regard to the boat, continuing to be constantly either drunk or sick.

"I spent most of my time with the workmen, alternating persuading and threatening, but ”