Day-by-Day / November 19, 1803

November 19, 1803

Ohio survey completed

Mouth of the Ohio, IL On their final day at the mouth of the Ohio, Clark completes his survey and Lewis makes celestial observations.

Mouth of the Ohio

View north, from Fort Defiance

The large Mississippi and Ohio River meet at Fort Defiance

© 2022 by Robert Heacock. Used by permission.

Clark’s Survey

at the mouth of the Ohio we delayed five Days in which time I made a Complete Survey of the place . . . .
—William Clark[1]James J. Holmberg, ed. Dear Brother: Letters of William Clark to Jonathan Clark (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 60.

Related: Formal Navigation by John Logan Allen

Lewis’s Celestial Observations

Took equal altitudes . . . .

Altitude Art. Horzn. & Sectns. 41° 26′ 37″ Sextant Error 8′ 45″—

Altitude given by sextant sun symbol‘s center 39° 50’ 00″

Equal altitudes corrected

Chronometer too slow
—Meriwether Lewis

Related: Deciphering the Celestial Data by Robert N. Bergantino | Formal Navigation by John Logan Allen

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 James J. Holmberg, ed. Dear Brother: Letters of William Clark to Jonathan Clark (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 60.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.

This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.

This site is provided as a public service by the
Logo: Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).