Mastodon Hunt Shaped Jefferson's Expedition

From 1804 to 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition sent American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark across the western United States, officially to seek new commercial opportunities. U.S. President Thomas Jefferson partly organized the expedition because he believed mastodons and other supposedly extinct animals might still roam the unexplored West. He instructed Lewis and Clark to collect bones and search for unfamiliar animals during their journey. After the expedition ended, Jefferson sent Clark to Kentucky's Big Bone Lick in 1807, and Clark shipped more than 300 bones to the White House the following year.

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