Stop 8 of 16

Limestone (Maysville), KY- Blanks in the Lewis’ Journals

A blank in Lewis’ journals occurred 19 September through 10 November 1803. The 39 blank pages in Lewis’ Ohio River Journal are a debated mystery that will never be fully understood by scholars. Eight of the blank pages are truly “blank” with 31 filled with notes pertaining to other expedition activities and locations. ⁽¹⁾ ⁽²⁾

More importantly, Lewis and his temporary crew would have stopped or passed Limestone (Maysville). The Ohio and Mississippi Navigator, 1802, Third Edition, page 33, clearly list the Limestone Creek confluence with the Ohio, “The Landing is a good one, lying in the bend of the river”. The 1814 edition has similar description of the “landing” and interestingly has an abridged version of the Lewis and Clak Expedition, pages 343-349. Limestone was the entrance to the Bluegrass country with a road leading to Lexington making Limestone a significant overnight stop.

There are records indicating expedition member John Colter lived in Mason County and met Lewis at Maysville, even though Colters enlistment date is 15 October 1803 at the Falls of the Ohio. ⁽³⁾

Additionally, in 1806, the Lewis and Clark party traveling to Washington DC, as President Jefferson detailed in the Instructions to Lewis in 1803 ⁽⁴⁾, there was a delegation of Osage Indian Chiefs led by Pierre Chouteau. The Osage Delegation separated from the Lewis party in Frankfort and traveled through Lexington and Limestone taking the northern route to Washington, arriving before Lewis, who took the southern route through Cumberland Gap. ⁽⁵⁾⁽⁶⁾⁽⁷⁾

The collective history of Limestone (Maysville) is part of the Lewis and Clark Story and today can be explored through the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center, Sutton Street, Maysville, KY. The excellent 1822 Map of Maysville by Owen, Surveyor, shows the Limestone Creek confluence with the Ohio River and the harbor described in The Navigator.

Source:

(1) Quaife, Milo M., The Journals of Captain Meriwether Lewis and Sergeant John Ordway Kept on the Expedition of Western Exploration, 1803-1806, The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, 1916, page 19.

(2) Moulton, Gary, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1986, Vol. II, page 85.

(3) Jackson, Donald, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, University of Illinois Press, 1978, Second Printing, Vol. II, page 378.

(4) Jackson, Donald, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, University of Illinois Press, 1978, Second Printing, Vol. II, page 61.

(5) Chouteau Pierre, Pierre Chouteau Letter Book, Chouteau Family Papers, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, page 79.

(6) Jackson, Donald, Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, University of Illinois Press, 1978, Second Printing, Vol. II, page 353, # 224.

(7) Potter, Tracy, Sheheke: The Mandan Diplomat, Ft. Mandan Press, 2003, page 125.