Throughout Lewis and Clark’s journey, their team, the Corps of Discovery and they used many different technologies. Much of which has never been used prior to the expedition. They used items such as the Octant, a pirogue, Chronometer just to name a few of the technologies to assist them in completing their expedition as efficiently as possible. These technologies, some of which were very new and were unknown of how effective they would be on the journey proved to be very useful and a valuable asset to the expedition and to American society . Since Lewis and Clark used many different types of technology during their expedition it was as if they were testing out many of the new technologies inventors were creating to prove how useful they would become for future use.
On September 25th 1804, Clark used a boat called a pirogue through the Mandan Country according to his journal entry, “I went with those chiefs, in one of the pirogues…” (Bakeless 2002) “As soon as I landed the pirogue, tthree of their young men seized the cable of the pirogue…” (Bakeless 2002) As depicted left above, Clark’s sketch of the white pirogue used on their expedition.
Other technology used that was of utter importance for determining longitude and latitude from celestial observations were taken with the chronometer and the sextant or the octant. Below is shown a picture of an Octant (left above) and a Chronometer (right above).
The Octant and Chronometer were used in conjunction to determine the location of the Corps of Discovery to map out their trail for future use. Overall technology was used in throughout the expedition for efficiency and in effect made it easier to make the journey across the country.
Works Cited:
Bakeless, John. The Journals of Lewis and Clark. New York: New American Library, 2002.
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