University of Virginia Library

Biddle at work

Biddle made the trip to Fincastle, noted Clark's oral statements,
and carried back with him to Philadelphia the journals
and maps of the expedition, from which he at once began to
prepare its history. In May, Clark sent to the editor George

Shannon[35] who when a lad of sixteen years, had creditably
served as one of the privates in the detachment. Then
twenty-three years old, and studying for the law,
Shannon appears to have remained in Philadelphia
during most of the time spent in draughting the
narrative, and to have materially assisted Biddle both in interpreting
the note-books and giving personal recollections of
the tour. Not only did Clark tender the services of Shannon,
but he himself was in frequent correspondence with the editor,[36]
and purchased and forwarded to him the journal of Sergeant
Ordway. The journal of Sergeant Gass being already in print,
was of course also accessible to Biddle.

The talented young editor at once surrendered himself
almost completely to the difficult task before him; he had
promised Clark that the narrative should be ready for the press
within twelve months. By the seventh of July he appears to
have finished the story up to July 7th, 1805, above the Falls
of the Missouri; for in a note to his distinguished correspond
ent, chiefly concerning the maps for the publication [37] he playfully
says: "Today I have sent you and ten men up into a
bottom to look for wood to make canoes after the unhappy
failure of your iron boat." A year later (July 8, 1811) he
wrote to Clark, informing him that he had "completed the
work agreeable to our engagement," and was "ready to put it
to the press whenever Mr. Conrad chose."