The Dunbar and Hunter Expedition, also known as the Grand Expedition, was an expedition led by

William Dunbar William Dunbar (1459 or 1460 – by 1530) was a Scottish makar, or court poet, active in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. He was closely associated with the court of King James IV and produced a large body of work in Scots d ...

and Dr. George Hunter with the purpose of exploring the lower portion of the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...

. The expedition was given the orders by U.S. President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

to explore parts of

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. The members of the expedition recorded information about the

Ouachita River The Ouachita River ( ) is a river that runs south and east through the United States, U.S. U.S. state, states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Tensas River to form the Black River (Louisiana), Black River near Jonesville, Louisiana. It i ...

, and studied things such as the hot springs in present-day

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

and provided one of the earliest descriptions of Arkansas and

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

Motivations

was a Scottish immigrant and scientist living in Natchez, Mississippi, when Jefferson contacted him about the proposed expedition. Jefferson wanted the expedition to travel through the southern area of the

. Specifically, he wanted the expedition to follow the rivers in the area, such as the Red River or the Arkansas River. The other leading member of the expedition, George Hunter, was recruited by Jefferson and was instructed to "make observations, to note courses," and to study the same things as Dunbar, but to keep his own account in case their observations differed from one another. In 1804, a boat was built for the expedition to travel up the Red River, however the expedition's plans were changed in order to travel to the hot springs instead after receiving word that their initial plans might result in conflict between the expedition and a band of the Osage tribe living in the region. With the new plan now in mind, the expedition left in October 1804.

Journey

The members of the expedition departed on their journey at a location on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

named St. Catherine's Landing. The members numbered 19 in total, including people who were not formal members of the expedition such as Hunter's son, two slaves, and a servant. Hunter designed the boat that was used on the journey, which resembled a

scow A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailboat, sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small ha ...

and was referred to by members of the expedition as a "Chinese-style vessel." According to George Hunter's writings in the journal he kept during the expedition, the group traveled up the Red River, as well as the Black River and Ouachita River, eventually landing at the hot springs. The members of the expedition were making observations of the land, people, and waters they encountered along the way, and turned back at the hot springs in order to return to where they began their expedition. Dunbar reportedly left the party around Fort Miro in order to take a land route to his home, where he would share the expedition's findings with the government via a transcript of his journal. The remaining members of the group continued their return to St. Catherine's Landing, where the journey was concluded in January 1805.

Discoveries

The Hunter–Dunbar Expedition produced discoveries and records relating both to scientific observations and to observations of Native people living in the areas which were explored. Many observations were made by both Hunter and Dunbar at the hot springs of Arkansas, such as Hunter's study of the water quality in the springs and the efforts by Dunbar to calculate the total rate of discharge of the springs.

Microorganism A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic scale, microscopic size, which may exist in its unicellular organism, single-celled form or as a Colony (biology)#Microbial colonies, colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen ...

s were also discovered in the hot springs by members of the expedition. The expedition also produced some of the earliest records written in English about the geographical features of Arkansas and Louisiana. Additionally, records of natural aspects such as plant and animal life in the region around the Ouachita River were kept by Hunter and Dunbar. The records kept of people in the region included details not only of indigenous people in the region, but also of fur traders, trappers, and other European travelers populating the area. They provided a description of the relationships between the people located in this region, as well as how these people used the natural resources around them.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar And Hunter Expedition 1804 in science 1804 in the Territory of Orleans 1805 in science 1805 in the Louisiana Territory 1805 in the Territory of Orleans Expeditions from the United States History of Hot Springs, Arkansas Louisiana Purchase Military expeditions of the United States Monroe, Louisiana North American expeditions Ouachita River Presidency of Thomas Jefferson Scientific expeditions