A list of supplies for Lewis' and Clark's Expedition

[rollingb]

Lewis and Clark Expedition Supplies

Altogether Lewis spent a total of $2,324 on gear



Transportation
55-foot (17-meter) Keelboat
2 Pirogues (open boats)
Square sail (also called a broad sail)
35 Oars
2 Horses


Camping Equipment
150 Yards (140 meters) of cloth to be oiled and sewn into tents and sheets
6 Large needles
Pliers
Chisels
Handsaws
Oilskin bags
25 Hatchets
Whetstones
30 Steels for striking or making fire
Iron corn mill
2 Dozen tablespoons
Mosquito curtains
10.5 Pounds (5 kilograms) of fishing hooks and fishing lines
12 Pounds (5.4 kilograms) of soap
193 Pounds (87.5 kilograms) of "portable soup" (a thick paste concocted by boiling down beef, eggs, and vegetables, to be used if no other food was available on the trail)
3 Bushels (106 liters) of salt
Writing paper, ink and crayons


Clothing
45 Flannel shirts
20 Coats
15 Frocks
Shoes
Woolen pants
15 Blankets
Knapsacks
30 Stockings
15 Pairs wool overalls


Medicine
50 Dozen Dr. Rush's patented "Rush's Thunderbolt" pills
Lancets
Forceps
Syringes
Tourniquets
1,300 Doses of physic
1,100 Doses of emetic
3,500 Doses of diaphoretic (sweat inducer)
Additional drugs


Arms
15 Prototype Model 1803 muzzle-loading .54-caliber rifles "Kentucky Rifles"
15 Gun slings
24 Large knives
Powder horns
500 Rifle flints
420 Pounds (191 kilograms) of sheet lead for bullets
176 Pounds (80 kilograms) of gunpowder packed in 52 lead canisters
1 Long-barreled rifle that fired its bullet with compressed air, rather than by flint, spark, and powder


Mathematical Instruments
Surveyor's compass
Hand compass
1 Hadley's quadrant
1 Telescope
3 Thermometers
2 Sextants
1 Set of plotting instruments
1 Chronometer (needed to calculate longitude; at $250 it was the most expensive item)
1 Portable microscope
1 Tape measure


Presents for Indian Tribes Encountered
12 Dozen pocket mirrors
4,600 Sewing needles
144 Small scissors
10 Pounds (4.5 kilograms) of sewing thread
Silk ribbons
Ivory combs
Handkerchiefs
Yards of bright-colored cloth
130 Rolls of tobacco
Tomahawks that doubled as pipes
288 Knives
8 Brass kettles
Vermilion face paint
20 Pounds (9 kilograms) of assorted beads, mostly blue
5 Pounds (2 kilograms) of small, white, glass beads
288 Brass thimbles
Armbands
Ear trinkets


Books, Tables, and Maps
A Practical Introduction to Spherics and Nautical Astronomy
Antoine Simon's Le Page du Pratz's History of Louisiana
Barton's Elements of Botany
Dictionary (4-volume)
Linnaeus (2-volume edition), the Latin classification of plants
Richard Kirwan's Elements of Mineralogy
The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris
Tables for finding longitude and latitude
Map of the Great Bend of the Missouri River