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Subject: Re: Preston's paper on Lewis & Clark's Navigation
From: Ken Muldrew (kmuldrew@XXX.XXX)
Date: Sun Jun 08 2003 - 02:33:47 EDT
> I was referring to the average discrepencies. Yes, there were some
> lemons in the observations. You also have to remember that L&C's own
> calculation of latitude from their data, which calculations they
> apparently made, might be better than those of Preston, since L&C were
> closer to the data, and not using a computer (which will blindly
> calculate with garbage that a human would discard). Finally, perhaps
> the "modern" interpretation of where L&C were located is incorrect.
Many of the landmarks that they noted, as well as their excellent notes
on courses, place them pretty well for much of their journey. I think that
the huge errors demonstrate that they just didn't make observations a
high priority (or perhaps they weren't trained sufficiently in the art).
> A
> similar phenomenon seems to have occurred with the famous Canadian
> explorer, David Thompson, around some lake up in the Rockies.
You may be referring to the Gottfred article where it is claimed (with good
reason) that Thompson is actually 6 miles away from where his
biographer puts him. This is a pretty small error compared to L&C's many
minutes on their latitudes. Also, it seems partly due to his biographer not
really caring very much, as her minimal notes on his navigation
technique consist of a couple of not-too-relevant cribs from Robertson.
Ken Muldrew
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