Captain Meriwether Lewis is depicted here in Auguste Chouteau's garden writing a letter to President Thomas Jefferson describing his first botanical discovery west of the Mississippi River- the Osage Orange. Along with the letter Lewis sent small cuttings or slips taken from the Osage Orange tree under which he sits. Beyond the cut limestone walls, French Colonial era St. Louis stretches north upriver. All the buildings in this painting have been identified by historian Robert Moore and located in their original positions.
