Captains Lewis and Clark both kept extensive journals of their journey. But they weren't the only ones. Sergeants Patrick Gass, John Ordway and Charles Floyd and Private Joseph Whitehouse also kept daily accounts of the progress of the expedition. In all, they wrote more than 140,000 words, never once running out of paper or ink throughout the entire two-and-a-half-year-long journey.

The different accounts written by the various men give historians additional layers of detail that wouldn’t be available if just one member of the party kept a journal.

Camp Fortunate Overlook on Clark Canyon Reservoir. (Click for a larger image)

It’s interesting to note that Lewis was the member of the party most likely to fall away from the journaling habit. Lewis didn’t write every day. In fact, for some 144 days of the expedition he didn’t write a word. Other days are marked only by a single line.

While members of the expedition promised to publish their journals shortly after the journey, it wasn't until 100 years later that they were finally published in a multi-volume set edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites. Then, in 1953, editor Bernard DeVoto published a single volume of the journals that was geared toward the general reader. The most recent, up-to-date edition of the journals was edited by Dr. Gary E. Moulton of the University of Nebraska.