Ed Vebell (American, 1921 - 2018) "Lewis and Clark Reach Pacific Ocean" Signed lower right. Original Acrylic painting on Masonite. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting is the original painting which was published on the Fleetwood Commemorative Cover for Epic Events in American History series issued in 1985. One of the most celebrated moments in American history occurred on the morning of November 7, 1805, when Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark stood on a peak in Oregon and gazed at the Pacific Ocean. Clark engraved the historic event on the trunk of a pine tree "By land from the United States, 1804 and 1805," and in his journal quite simply, "reached Cape Disappointment at the entrance of the Columbia River to the Great South Sea and the Pacific Ocean." That brought to a triumphant close an enterprise launched by Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Seas, in 1492. It was, characteristically enough, Jefferson who had conceived the expedition, obtained Congressional support, and defied international laws by penetrating the empires of Spain and of Britain. What is more, Jefferson set down in detail the agenda of the expedition "... to find the most direct and practical water communications to the Pacific," explore the mineral and other resources of the vast West, keep records of temperature, flora, fauna, the customs of the Indian tribes, and lay the foundations for American claims to the whole of the "Oregon" country. That was both bold and ambitious, but in the end Britain gave in to the reality that Lewis and Clark had been the forerunners, and that the United States could make good its claim. Image Size: 20.25 x 21.25 in. Overall Size: 24 x 27.25 in. Unframed. (B05369)