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EXPEDITION
AGAINST
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MOHAVE
INDIANS
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OPENING OF THE SANTA FE TRAIL After the Revolutionary War, the American pioneers started their expansion into the frontier. First moving through the Virginias, then into Kentucky and Tennessee. By 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected President. He had tried twice, unsuccessfully, in the preceding fifteen years, to send an exploration party looking for a water route through the continent. On January 18, 1803, President Jefferson asked Congress to authorize a military expedition for the purpose of exploring the Missouri River to its sources in the Rocky Mountains. From the Rockies, the expedition was to head westward to the Pacific, looking for waterways that could be traveled. For this expedition, the President chose Captain Meriwether Lewis. Lewis asked his good friend, William Clark to join the expedition as a co-leader. Lewis and Clark started their adventure in May of 1804 by going up the Missouri, then crossing through the Rockies and continuing by boat down the Clearwater, Snake and Columbia Rivers to the Pacific Ocean. After twenty-eight months of absence, they returned over much of the same wilderness. On September 23, 1806, the expedition arrived back in St. Louis. News of their adventure spread throughout the states. The exploration was talked about every where for many years. From the information compiled, and the excitement that was created, the next generation was being prepared for what followed. The purchase of the Louisiana Territory from the French increased the desire to explore this unknown territory. Young and old were curious to find out what lay within the boundaries of this new land. In 1812, there was trouble with the Indians and it would take the attention of the nation for six long years. By 1819, pioneers had expanded to the frontier outpost of Fort Osage on the Missouri River. The next year, 1820, Joseph Walker was heading into the Rockies to trap beaver and would end up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As a result of his trip to Santa Fe for supplies, and the return expedition the following year, a trail was being established from the Missouri River at Fort Osage to Santa Fe, New Mexico. This trail would soon bear the name of the "Santa Fe Trail." Years later when asked about his part in opening this trail, Joseph Walker, who was always modest, would only say we "broke the crust." 
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