The Iron Boat
Captain Lewis' first stop was the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. It was a stunning blue morning in the spring of 1803 --the kind of morning that holds the pent up promise of summer in the lavender lilac buds just beginning to burst and scent the Virginia countryside. And why shouldn't he be in fine spirits. With a newly minted commission in his pocket and the grand sum of twenty-five hundred dollars in credit, both issued by the Congress of the United States with which to outfit his expedition, Lewis couldn’t help but be excited and full of energy. He was to lead the first American expedition into the newly acquired Louisiana Territory.
The artisans at Harper's Ferry, using the most advanced technologies of the day, were producing the finest guns in America. Lewis would need plenty of them, and ammunition to match. But more importantly, he was there to follow up on an idea that he'd had for a collapsible canoe frame, made out of iron, which could be assembled and disassembled as the need arose. If the headwaters of the Missouri River were to be reached, and a continuous waterway across the continent, linking the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific was to be discovered, a number of different watercraft might be required.
They would leave St. Louis with a fifty-five foot long, eight foot wide Keelboat with a twelve ton carrying capacity and several pirogues and canoes --some as long as thirty feet. But who knew what the lay of the land was, or what its waterways held in store for them? The idea was that an iron canoe frame could be portaged from point to point and outfitted with elk hides at any given point along the way, and that the pace of their travels would be much improved by this innovation. A month invested by the erstwhile smithies at Harpers Ferry and the frame was completed, tested, and found worthy. It was forty feet long when it was assembled. Lewis couldn’t have been more pleased.