Clark, William

William (1770-1838), an American explorer. A brother of George Rogers Clark. He migrated from Virginia to the present site of Louisville, Kentucky. In 1808, he was appointed to the joint command of the Lewis and Clark expedition, sent by Jefferson to explore the upper waters of the Missouri, and the great Northwest. Clark's journal of the trip from St. Louis through the mountains to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon is full of thrilling anecdotes. It is better reading than any story of Indian adventure. He died at St. Louis. See Lewis