Louisiana Purchase Exploration Trails

What is this?

Louisiana Purchase Exploration Trails is a proposed interpretive driving route highlighting two early U.S. expeditions into the Louisiana Purchase: the Dunbar-Hunter “Grand Expedition” (1804-1805) and the Freeman-Custis “Red River Expedition” (1806).

Though not as widely known today as the Lewis and Clark Expedition, these expeditions played a crucial role in shaping early American understanding of the Louisiana Purchase. Their routes passed through landscapes that remain inhabited and traveled today, making them especially well-suited through interpretation through place-based travel.

The project aims to connect existing historic sites, museums, and landscapes with a small number of roadside markers and a map-based guide, making it easier for travelers to follow these expeditions on the ground and understand how early Americans encountered the region. This website presents a working proof-of-concept and will continue to evolve as research advances and partnerships develop.

Below: 1806 map of the Red River by Nicholas King based upon data collected by the Freeman-Custis Expedition.

King, N. , Cartographer, and Francis Shallus. Map of the Red River in Louisiana from the Spanish camp where the exploring party of the U.S. was met by the Spanish troops to where it enters the Mississippi, reduced from the protracted courses and corrected to the latitude
. Philadelphia: Engrav’d by F. Shallus, 1806. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2003623378/>.

This link goes to a page where you can view the locations of the proposed Phase One of the Louisiana Purchase Exploration Trail markers.

View the Map

Below: Nicholas King map of the Ouachita River, developed from data collected by Dunbar-Hunter Expedition

King, N. Map of the Washita river in Louisiana from the Hot Springs to the confluence of the Red River with the Mississippi.
London: R. Phillips, 1804. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2004633176/>.