Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Presentation by Austin Haney
In the spring of 1853, nearly 200 men stepped off from St. Paul Minnesota, bound for the heart of the Northwest. The Stevens Expedition was just one of five survey parties sent into the American West that year, but it was by far the largest and most ambitious of them all. Tasked with finding a route for the nation's first transcontinental railroad, it would be the most substantial government-sponsored exploration of the interior US since the days of Lewis and Clark. While often forgotten and overlooked, the Stevens Expedition fundamentally altered the Northwest and continues to affect the lives of Montanans today.
Presentation by Austin Haney
In the spring of 1853, nearly 200 men stepped off from St. Paul Minnesota, bound for the heart of the Northwest. The Stevens Expedition was just one of five survey parties sent into the American West that year, but it was by far the largest and most ambitious of them all. Tasked with finding a route for the nation's first transcontinental railroad, it would be the most substantial government-sponsored exploration of the interior US since the days of Lewis and Clark. While often forgotten and overlooked, the Stevens Expedition fundamentally altered the Northwest and continues to affect the lives of Montanans today.
