January 19-25, 1803
Lewis’s Estimate of Expedition Expenses

President Jefferson’s request for $2,500 from Congress on January 18th was based on the following estimate of expenses, provided to Jefferson by his secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, the eventual leader of the Corps of Discovery:

This original summary of expenses was a serious, perhaps deliberate, underestimate. A list of expenses provided by Lewis on August 5th, 1807 reached a final cost of $37,722.25, thirteen times the amount allocated by Congress.

Recapitulation of an estimate of the sum necessary to carry into effect the Missie expedicion—

Mathematical Instruments
$
217
Arms & Accoutrements extraordinary
“
81
Camp Ecquipage
“
255
Medecine & packing
“
55
Means of transportation
“
430
Indian presents
“
696
Provisions extraordinary
“
224
Materials for making up the various articles into portable packs
“
55
For the pay of hunters guides & Interpreters
“
300
In silver coin to defray the expenses of the party from Nashville to the last white settlement on the Missisourie
“
100
Contingencies
“
87
$
2,500

 

Portrait of Meriwether Lewis by Rembrandt Peale. Image from Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites; original artwork at Independence Hall Philadelphia.
Sources: Jackson, Letters, items 6 and 277.