Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail
The existing NPS-partnered L&C NHT map. The Mississippi 360° campaign extends this map seamlessly into the Lower Mississippi for the first time.
Match Challenge — Deadline May 15, 2026
Complete Lewis's 1809 Journey
Mississippi River 360° Virtual Documentation — Paducah to Memphis
A Lewis and Clark Trust initiative to document 295 river miles of the Lower Ohio and Mississippi corridor — every public access site, every key landmark — and make it free to the public.
The Story
The Untold Chapter of Lewis and Clark
Most people know about the 1804–1806 Corps of Discovery. Far fewer know that in 1809, Meriwether Lewis traveled from the Ohio River at Paducah down to Fort Pickering — present-day Memphis — on his final journey east. That stretch of river has never been comprehensively documented. Until now.
The Lewis and Clark Trust is leading a 360° documentation effort covering every mile from Paducah, KY to south of Memphis, TN — extending the existing Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail digital map seamlessly into the Lower Mississippi.
Lewis in 1809
Memphis on the Mississippi
Three years after the triumphant return of the Corps of Discovery, Meriwether Lewis was Governor of Upper Louisiana and under intense political pressure. In late summer 1809 he set out from St. Louis bound for Washington, D.C. to defend his administration of the territory and to publish the journals of the expedition. The chosen route ran down the Mississippi to the Chickasaw Bluffs, where Fort Pickering — modern-day Memphis — stood as the last federal outpost before the journey turned overland through the Natchez Trace.
Lewis arrived at Fort Pickering on September 15, 1809, exhausted and ill. He stayed two weeks under the care of Captain Gilbert C. Russell, recovering enough to continue. He set out again at the start of October, accompanied by his servant John Pernier, the Chickasaw agent James Neelly, and Neelly’s slave. The party crossed the Tennessee River and entered the Trace.
On the night of October 11, 1809, at Grinder’s Stand in middle Tennessee, Lewis died. The circumstances remain debated to this day — most scholars accept suicide; a vocal minority continue to argue murder. What is undisputed is that Lewis’s last great river journey followed the Lower Mississippi, and that no comprehensive visual record of that route exists.
This campaign closes that gap. Following the same corridor Lewis traveled in 1809, the Trust will document every mile from Paducah down past Memphis, building a free public archive that extends the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail digital map into the Lower Mississippi for the first time.
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Aug 25, 1809 Departure from St. Louis
Lewis sets out down the Mississippi bound for Washington, D.C.
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Sept 15, 1809 Arrival at Fort Pickering
Reaches the Chickasaw Bluffs (present-day Memphis).
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Oct 1809 Onto the Natchez Trace
Departs Fort Pickering with James Neelly and John Pernier.
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Oct 11, 1809 Death at Grinder's Stand
Lewis dies in a roadhouse on the Trace; circumstances debated to this day.
Why This Matters
Recreation & Public Access
- Plan trips before you launch — every access point, every landmark
- Free, browser-based exploration — no app required
- ADA-aligned virtual scouting for trip-planning
- Visibility for paddling routes, ramps, and pull-outs
- River towns and outfitters reach a wider audience
Science & Environmental Baseline
- Permanent reference imagery for flood, drought, and erosion studies
- Reference data for USACE, TDEC, and academic research
- Climate and shoreline-change monitoring over time
- Environmental assessment for permits and restoration
- Habitat and species-corridor documentation
A Digital Twin of the River
- Snapshot in time — preserves the corridor as it is right now
- Pre-disaster, pre-flood, pre-development reference baseline
- Engineering and insurance reference for riverside infrastructure
- Foundation for VR, AR, simulation, and curriculum tools
- Future generations see the Mississippi as it is in 2026
History & Heritage
- Documents Lewis's 1809 final journey for the first time
- Extends the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail digital map
- Preserves cultural landmarks, river towns, and tribal sites
- Free public educational resource for schools and historians
- Connects water trail to land trail via the L&C NHT
What We're Building
- ~45 miles of the Lower Ohio (Paducah → Cairo confluence)
- ~250 miles of Mississippi mainstem (Cairo → south of Memphis)
- Every public access site: boat ramps, kayak/canoe launches, personal-watercraft sites
- Select land-trail segments and historic landmarks
- Baseline flood-stage imagery for research and long-term monitoring
- Free public hosting at terrain360.com with ArcGIS integration and API access for partners
Fund the Full Corridor
The match is for individual donors. The full Lower Ohio + Mississippi documentation is a larger lift — and we’re looking for one or two lead sponsors to underwrite it at scale.
The Trust’s $15,000 commitment kicks the work off; matching it before May 15 doubles that. But fully documenting the 295-mile corridor — Paducah down through the Ohio–Mississippi confluence at Cairo to south of Memphis — at the depth modeled by paddletheohio.com is a foundation, family-office, or agency-scale partnership. Mission alignment with rivers, recreation, environmental science, or the Lewis & Clark legacy gets you in the door.
If a leadership commitment is on the table, let’s talk. Field work this summer; the corridor live by year’s end.
Or email jim@lewisandclarktrust.org directly to start a corridor-funding conversation.
See What You're Funding
Public projects in this same format. The Mississippi will pair seamlessly with the existing Lewis & Clark NHT map and these companion projects.
Ohio River 360° — Live
The full Ohio River captured in 360°, with mile-by-mile imagery, gauge data, and access points along the entire L&C corridor. The Mississippi work begins where this map ends, at the Cairo confluence.
Paddle the James (VA)
Full-river 360° exploration tool with conditions, access points, and mile-by-mile imagery — a template for what the Mississippi will become.
Anza National Historic Trail (NPS)
Multi-state historic trail in 360° — precedent for NHT-scale partnership work with the National Park Service.
Match the Trust's Commitment
The Trust has put $15,000 on the line. Match it before May 15 and every dollar you give is doubled.
- $50 becomes $100 with the match
- $250 becomes $500 with the match
- $1,000 becomes $2,000 with the match
- Custom any amount, doubled
Mail a check
Make checks payable to Lewis and Clark Trust Inc..
Lewis & Clark Trust Inc.1867 Bellefonte Drive
Lexington, KY 40503
Pledge your match below. We'll follow up with mailing instructions or accept a letter of commitment by email.
Every dollar above the $15,000 match supports Phase 2 — the Katy Trail 360° demonstration in late June 2026.
In Partnership With
Frequently Asked
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes. Lewis and Clark Trust, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit — EIN 45-4290831. Every dollar you give is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law, and you’ll receive an acknowledgment letter for your records.
Donations made through this page are restricted to the Mississippi River 360° corridor work — they fund field capture, post-processing, public hosting, and partner integration on the Lower Ohio and Lower Mississippi. The Trust files an annual Form 990; financials are available on request.
What happens if you don't hit the match?
Every dollar you give still goes directly to the project. The match is a stretch goal, not a contingency — the work is moving regardless.
If we fall short of the full match by the deadline, the Trust’s board has discretion to (a) extend the campaign with a revised target, (b) reallocate the matched portion to the closest-aligned project on the Lewis & Clark return route, or (c) carry remaining matched funds forward to the next phase of capture. Donors are notified of any reallocation decision and can request that their gift follow the same path or be applied elsewhere.
Can my organization partner instead of donating?
Yes — and we actively want partners on this corridor. Good fits include:
- NPS units along the Lower Ohio and Mississippi — Lewis & Clark NHT, Mississippi NRRA, Vicksburg NMP, Shiloh NMP, and others with overlapping boundaries.
- State and regional agencies — Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi state parks; conservation departments; river-corridor commissions.
- River-town chambers, tourism bureaus, and outfitters — Paducah, Cairo, New Madrid, Memphis, and points between.
- Paddling and outdoor-recreation brands — co-branded launch points, gear partners, content partners.
- Educational and tribal partners — universities, K–12 curriculum programs, and tribal heritage offices working on the corridor’s pre-1804 and 1809 history.
Partnership can take the shape of in-kind support (river access, lodging during capture), advisory input on heritage and access points, content collaboration, or co-branded distribution. Reach out to jim@lewisandclarktrust.org or ryan@terrain360.com — a 15-minute call is the fastest way to see if there’s a fit.
Where will the imagery be hosted?
Free, permanent public access at terrain360.com, alongside the existing Lewis & Clark NHT and Ohio River maps. No paywall, no app — anything a visitor needs runs in the browser.
For partners we provide:
- Embeddable URLs — drop a specific mile, access point, or historical landmark into your own website, blog post, grant application, or interpretive panel.
- ArcGIS and GeoJSON integration — geo-tagged imagery hooks into existing GIS workflows for NPS, state agencies, and river-corridor partners.
- Tile and image API access for partner orgs that want to build on top of it.
- Long-term archive — the imagery is preserved as a baseline visual record of the Lower Ohio and Mississippi as they exist in 2026, available to researchers, historians, and engineers.
Terrain360’s posture on this corridor matches our stance on the L&C NHT: captured once, free to the public, forever.
Who's behind this?
This is a partnership between two organizations:
- Lewis and Clark Trust, Inc. — the 501(c)(3) leading the financial and stewardship side of the campaign. Jim Mallory, Executive Director, is the primary contact for donations, board questions, and Trust-side partnership conversations.
- Terrain360 — the technology and field-capture team. Ryan Abrahamsen, founder, leads the corridor work and the multi-year NPS partnership on the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail (the Missouri River, Sioux City to the Confluence, has already been captured under that partnership).
The two organizations have collaborated on Lewis & Clark corridor projects since 2024. The Mississippi River 360° campaign extends that working relationship onto Lewis’s 1809 return-route corridor — Paducah to south of Memphis — for the first time. Reach Jim at jim@lewisandclarktrust.org or Ryan at ryan@terrain360.com · 804.677.1456.