Lost River - Karst Information Portal

2007 NSS Convention Guidebook
The Falls of the Ohio originally were long
rapids caused by a 26-foot drop of the Ohio
River over a 2.5-mile stretch of limestone ledges.
This area became a natural stopping point for
people traveling the Ohio River. The south side
of the Falls became Louisville, Kentucky. On
the north, the Town of Clarksville, Indiana, was
founded. William and George Rogers Clark
both owned parcels of land at the Clarksville
original town site which is now part of the
Falls of the Ohio State Park. Clarksville was
the first American settlement in the Northwest
Territory, established in 1783. George’s cabin
and the surrounding area of the original town
site on the riverbank were used as a base camp
during Lewis and Clark’s preparations. George
Rogers Clark operated a mill along nearby Mill
Creek, 150 yards from where the creek entered
the Ohio River.
The George Rogers Clark Home Site,
historically known as Clarks Point, is where
William Clark was living with his older brother,
George Rogers Clark, when Meriwether Lewis
arrived in October of 1803. George Rogers
Clark was a friend of Thomas Jefferson and
corresponded with him about their mutual
interest in paleontology and archaeology. At the
Falls of the Ohio in the summer of 1803, William
Clark received a letter from Meriwether Lewis
inviting him to help command an expedition to
explore the Louisiana territory and find a water
passage to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis wrote to
Clark: “Thus my friend ... you have a summary
view of the plan, the means and the objects of this
expedition. If therefore there is anything under
whose circumstances, in this enterprise, which
would induce you to participate with me in it’s
fatiegues, it’s dangers and it’s honors, believe me
there is no man on earth with whom I should feel
equal pleasure in sharing them with yourself.”
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Lewis and Clark, Indiana,
and the Falls of the Ohio
From the Indiana Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Web site
(edited by Strunk, 2007)
On October 14, 1803, Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark met at the Falls of the Ohio,
forming one of the most famous and successful
partnerships in history. Lewis and Clark, no
doubt, spent many hours in the cabin planning
the journey and getting advice from George
Rogers Clark, who was very knowledgeable
about the West. Soon, thereafter, the Corps of
Discovery was born. Nine men were inducted
into the Army at the Falls of the Ohio.
They formed one-third of the expedition’s
permanent party. They were the foundation for
what historians describe as the most famous
exploring venture in the history of American
exploration. On October 26, 1803, Lewis and
Clark, together with the nucleus of the Corps
of Discovery, set off down the Ohio River from
Clarksville, Indiana, on a journey that would
take them to the Pacific Ocean and back. With
them went local recruits, handpicked by Clark,
and Clark’s enslaved African American, York.
York became the first African American to
cross the United States from coast to coast.
These first permanent members of the Corps
of Discovery made significant contributions
toward the success of the endeavor.
Nearly 200 years have passed since their
departure to the West and return in November
1806. Their journey changed the course of
American history. Their world has changed
much in the two centuries since they traversed
the Falls area. But the legacy of Lewis and
Clark and their men is still with us today. It
is with us in printed word, in institutional
collections, and in landmarks. It is possible,
today, to stand where the captains and the
nucleus of the Corps of Discovery stood 200
years ago; to visit where they visited; and to
view expedition letters and artifacts.