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    Re: No Lunars Era
    From: Frank Reed CT
    Date: 2004 Dec 7, 15:36 EST
    I wrote earlier:
    > There were PLENTY of people who could have been sent on that
    > expedition who had extensive practical experience with lunars. Hell,
    > they could have sent Nathaniel Bowditch! The failure of the navigation
    > observations on the Lewis & Clark expedition was a travesty, plain and
    > simple.
    And Fred H replied:
    "I don't agree. So what if they got the longitudes screwed up?  They
    managed to do the most important thing, help the U.S. lay claim all the
    way to the Pacific north of California.  The rivers they navigated were
    unambiguous; there was no need for the lunars to specify which rivers
    they were on.

    They also managed to excite a great number of people about the
    Louisiana Purchase and  foster colonization of all that land, leading
    the way to Fort Astoria and the Oregon Trail."
     
    Surely, Fred, you do not think I was suggesting that the entire expedition was worthless. You might consider this though: what WAS the real reason for instructing L&C to make exacting observations for latitude and longitude? There was some specific objective, above and beyond the otherwise highly successful exploration. And considering the abject failure of most of those navigational observations, what was the damage done to that specific objective?
     
    Frank R
    [ ] Mystic, Connecticut
    [X] Chicago, Illinois
       
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