Jefferson hoped to establish trade with the Native American people of the West and find a water route to the Pacific. Jefferson also was fascinated by the prospect of what could be learned about the geography of the West, the lives and languages of the Native Americans, the plants and animals, the soil, the rocks, the weather, and how they differed from those in the East. Also, Jefferson viewed westward expansion as a way for the nation to maintain its agrarian values.

General James Wilkinson, the governor of the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, sent Pike on the first of two expeditions through the territory, a mission to find the source of the Mississippi River. Although Pike was unable to find the source of the river, he did hold significant talks with various tribes in the regions he passed through. Wilkinson may have also intended to test British reactions to a U.S. military exploration venturing into traditional fur-trapping country.

Pike's expedition set out westward in April 1806, to the Arkansas River in modern central Colorado. Apparently, word of Pike's "secret" mission reached the Spanish headquarters for the northern provinces of New Spain in Chihuahua, Mexico. A Spanish military force was dispatched to intercept Pike. Meanwhile, …show more content…
However, he crossed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the Rio Grande River's Conejos fork, where he constructed a cottonwood log outpost. At that location a Spanish detachment finally found him. The Spaniards requested Pike and his men accompany them to Santa Fe. Pike, claiming he meant to be on the Red River, departed as requested, and wound up in Chihuahua as a prisoner charged with illegal entry into Spanish territory. A year later the Spaniards escorted Pike and his party back northward to the United States territory at Natchitoches, Louisiana, where he was released in July