NEWS: As of March 2019, the eastern heritage trail is now part of the entire NPS Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail! If you have a National Park Service Passport Book, you can have it stamped when you visit Fort Steuben.

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Although the original Fort Steuben was gone by the time President Thomas Jefferson organized the expedition to explore the western territory of the United States, the town of Steubenville was already growing and thriving. As Meriwether Lewis traveled from Pittsburgh down the Ohio River with supplies to meet William Clark in Kentucky, he and his crew often struggled with problems due to the shallowness of the river and the riffles or sand bars that hampered navigation.

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September 6, 1803, Lewis recorded in his journal that they had reached Steubenville. They managed to hoist the sail and run two miles before the wind became too strong and they were forced to furl the sails. Striking a riffle, Lewis was “obliged again” to hire a team of oxen to pull them down river where they camped about a mile and a half downstream. A USGS Lewis and Clark geodetic marker at Historic Fort Steuben commemorates their adventures here. GPS: 40°21’31” N - 80°36’49” W

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Information and interpretive panels on the famous expedition are on display in the Visitor Center.

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The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation has created a full curriculum for grades 5-9 that is free to download as pdfs here: www.lewisandclark.org/learn/curriculum.php.