w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
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by SHERMAN CAHILL
Lewis and Clark
in Search of
B
EFORE THEY SET OUT, LEWIS AND CLARK received unofficial orders, a secret mission, if you
will: find a living mastodon out there in the uncharted wildlands of the Louisiana Purchase.
While it sounds quixotic now, it wasn't so crazy back then. Though some information on
the Far West had been gathered by very early Spanish explorers, French trappers, and
the legends of indigenous peoples, it was a largely unknown place to the Corps
of Discovery preparing to explore it. Lewis and Clark were enlightened by
the most up-to-date scientific research, like that of Benjamin Franklin,
who in the 1760s examined a mastodon tooth and proclaimed it to
be the gnashing implement of a fearsome, giant carnivore. By
1796, most naturalists thought the mastodon ate plants, but
pockets of deeply entrenched adherents insisted the beast
was a terrifying killer.
All of which is to say that, as they set out west, Lewis
and Clark were forced to reckon with the possibility
they'd have to face off with a giant, meat-eating el-
ephant-like monster.
the American
Incognitum
