Talk:Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Jumbled contents
The Contents of this page are jumbled. Maybe it should be retored to a previous version. Who is Robert Hunt? Why does it mention that Lewis had his hunting knife in his butt? Someone screwing around? July 12, 1805.....collapsibe iron boat?!?!?


 * The "butt" comment and Robert Hunt (apparently a contemporary author on the subject of Lewis & Clark) are likely vandalism, so I removed them. The collapsible iron boat, based on a cursory review of other materials, has a likelihood of correctness.  Stevie is the man!  Talk &bull; Work 02:14, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Entries to timeline
My name is Pgass1. I am from Montana. I am new to this and hope I am following protocol. I made a huge list of entries on the timeline. I am a Lewis and Clark re-enactor here in Montana. I did most of the research in the middle 1990's preparing for the National Heritage Trail Foundation meeting held in Great Falls in 1998. All of my information came from Gary E. Moulton's editing of the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I will be entering an article on the iron frame boat later on as soon as I learn how. PGass1 18:47, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

What's Going on?
Someone has been changing some of the words from Lewis to newis. I am going to change this back to Lewis.

Grammar
This has lots of grammatical errors throughout the page. Like, for example, this was copied directly from the article:


 * September 25-29 – A band of Lakota Sioux demand one of the boats as a toll for moving further upriver. Met with Teton Sioux. Close order drill, air gun demo, gifts of medals, military coat, hats, tobacco. Hard to communicate language problems. Invited chiefs on board keelboat, gave each 1/2 glass whiskey, acted drunk wanted more. Two armed confrontations with Sioux. Some of the chiefs slept on boat, moved up river to another village, met in lodge held scalp dance

See? Bad grammar. 97.102.154.152 (talk) 15:09, 4 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Maybe this is the account from the expedition's journal, which very likely had spelling and grammar errors judged by 21st century standards. Before corrections are made, this possibility needs to be investigated. --DThomsen8 (talk) 15:26, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

Philadelphia connection? Preparations? Missing.

 * Lewis and Clark Expedition and Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition have Philadelphia templates and connections, but nothing about Philadelphia and only a little about Pennsylvania in the articles. Philadelphia was important in the preparations, and in the reports after the return of the party, so a lot of information is missing. This timeline article is especially misleading, as there were extensive preparations and training in Philadelphia and elsewhere, entirely missing from the article.--DThomsen8 (talk) 15:42, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

Merge this list with main
Does this timeline, a list, really need it's own separate page? Seems to me this list could easily be placed in a collapsible box and placed in the main article.

Or how about making the whole thing into a template? -- Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

-- Gwillhickers (talk) 01:20, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

Complete overhaul needed
The "tone" and "citations needed" templates have hung over the timeline for two years with little result. To improve the article, I've started a new timeline and plan to replace most of the dates, a task I expect will take another month. So for now I'm looking for input on the following observations. Feedback on the above would be greatly appreciated. Allreet (talk) 17:00, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
 * The current timeline includes far too many "trivial" dates to be either useful or appealing. In my view, a timeline should be limited to "milestones," the most notable of events. IOW, it should be a condensation, not a listing of every date covered in the Journals.
 * The "complete" story is important, of course, but a good timeline allows the reader to skip from milestone to milestone and still have a sense of the fuller story.
 * Since this timeline primarily recounts a journey, the geographic locations reached are as important as events. So I'm either weaving them into the descriptions or including dates whose only significance is the location, for example, when the Corps encounters the confluence of major rivers or enters certain states. The aim is to paint a clear picture of the expedition's progress.
 * Earlier dates, those leading up to the expedition, should also be included, for example, Jefferson's appointment of Lewis as his secretary and then Lewis's selection as leader. Also, Jefferson's secret letter to Congress for funding and then the dates associated with the Purchase. These events are part of the "journey" as well.
 * As for "tone," the issue is actually style. The descriptions should be complete sentences that include the most important details and maintain a narrative flow. For example: "November 4, 1804 - Toussaint Charbonneau, a French fur trader living with the Mandans, is hired as an interpreter. One of Charbonneau's wives, a pregnant 16-year-old Lemhi Shoshone, is also hired to assist the expedition. Her name: Sacagawea." A shorter entry: "December 25, 1804 - The Corps celebrates Christmas with special food, rum and dancing." Note that in both instances, the location has been established by an earlier entry.
 * Regarding citations, I have at least two for each date. One cite usually references the journals, and the other either an existing timeline or a crucial source, such as Moulton's Day by Day or Ambrose's Undaunted Courage. This gives readers online sources they can access as well as definitive sources on which the other timelines are based.

Replaced original timeline
As noted above, the timeline was in dire need of an overhaul. I've done that, drawing on a number of sources, most notably the Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition and Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage. I saw no point in trying to edit the existing timeline, because of errors and the somewhat random inclusion of dates - a kitchen sink approach, really. Accordingly, I found it more efficient to start from scratch. I plan to add more citations over the next month or so and will also add some dates as their notability becomes clear from additional research. Again, feedback would be appreciated. Allreet (talk) 23:36, 17 March 2020 (UTC)