"Run, York, run!" Will shouted.

Will and his friend York were leading a two-week old calf from a field to put with their collection of live animals. Suddenly the calf's mother came charging toward the boys. York ran and jumped over a fence, but Will had to fight off the angry cow by waving his jacket before her. Finally he managed to escape by climbing a tree.

One of Will's boyhood friends in Caroline County, Virginia, was Meriwether Lewis, whom Will came to call Merne. The boys spent a great deal of time together and often dreamed of exploring the West. They pored over maps and talked about the many adventures they might enjoy if they could only go there. Little did they realize that years later their dreams would come true.

When Will was partly grown, his family moved from Virginia to Louisville, Kentucky. This was a long dangerous trip, and Will had many thrilling experiences on the way. Will's older brother, General George Rogers Clark, who had already won fame fighting Indians in the Northwest Territory, was on hand to meet the Clark family. With General Clark was the famous pioneer, Daniel Boone.

When Will was a young man he joined the United States Army and, like his famous brother, George Rogers Clark, helped to fight the Indians in the Midwest. During other years, he lived on the frontier and learned much about pioneer life.

When Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from the French in 1803, this territory, which was larger than all the rest of the country, was almost unknown. Jefferson wanted to send an expedition into the territory to find out what it was like, and finally decided to ask Meriwether Lewis and Will Clark to head the mission. Jefferson had known both of these men during their early boyhood days in Virginia.

In 1804 Lewis and Clark set out on their long journey. They traveled up the Missouri River, crossed the Rocky Mountains, and followed the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. They gathered much valuable information and were the first explorers to travel completely across the country.

Some years later Clark was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs and Governor of the Missouri Territory. He was a very successful administrator and formed many treaties with the Indians. Everywhere the Indians looked upon him as their friend.

From the dust jacket