American Toby Jug Museum 

Lewis and Clark two-headed character jug produced by Avon of New York, New York, in 1985. The Lewis and Clark Expedition was the expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the United States after the Louisiana Purchase. The team was a select group of U.S. Army and civilian volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark (1770-1838). Clark, along with 30 others, set out from Camp Dubois, Illinois, on May 14, 1804, met Lewis and ten other members of the group in St. Charles, Missouri, then went up the Missouri River. The expedition crossed the Continental Divide, eventually coming to the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean in 1805. The return voyage began in March, 1806, at Fort Clatsop, Oregon, ending six months later. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the expedition to explore as much of the new territory as possible. He also wanted to find a practical travel route across the western half of the continent, avoiding the hot and desolate desert southwest, and to establish an American presence in the new lands before European powers attempted to establish claims of their own. The campaign's secondary objectives were scientific, economical and humanitarian.