An Exercise in People and Patience

Sketch of a keelboat https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.img.1804-01-21.01

Have you ever been part of a group project that felt more like a solo job? Namely your job? Has a grade or evaluation ever depended on a group or team where not everyone contributes the same? Sometimes working with a team means managing people with a healthy dose of patience. Meriwether Lewis experienced this exact scenario in the late summer of 1803.

To get the Corps of Discovery up the Missouri River Meriwether Lewis needed boats. Specifically, he wanted a large boat similar to a barge called a keelboat. The westernmost location Lewis could reliably purchase a keelboat was Pittsburgh, conveniently located at the source of the Ohio river. Unfortunately, Lewis ran into problems with his boatbuilder and the workmen.

Lewis to Jefferson

September 8, 1803

…At 10. A.M. on the same day I left Pittsburgh, where I had been moste shamefully detained by the unpardonable negligence of my boat-builder…according to his usual custom he got drunk, quarrelled with his workmen, and several of them left him, nor could they be prevailed on to return: I threatened him with the penalty of his contract, and exacted a promise of greater sobriety in future which, he took care to perform with as little good faith, as he had his previous promises with regard to the boat, continuing to be constantly either drunk or sick. I spent most of my time with the workmen, alternately presuading and threatening, but neither threats, presuasion or any other means which I could devise were sufficient to procure the completion of the work sooner than the 31st of August…

Instead of spending valuable time procuring supplies or making other preparations for the expedition, Lewis got stuck managing a drunken boat builder and his men. Despite his best efforts to speed the process along, eventually the only thing Lewis could do was be patient. What instances in your life have you worked with a team and needed to exercise patience?

Where this belongs

• Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail

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