Thomas Jefferson, after seeing mastodon bones from Kentucky, believed the animals might still be living in the interior of the continent and asked Lewis and Clark to search for them.
Notes on verification
Well corroborated by multiple independent sources including NPS, scholarly Lewis and Clark site, and Jefferson's own writings; minor nuance that written instructions didn't explicitly name mastodons but historians agree on intent. [cascade flags: aggregator_dropped_primary_exists | tier=silver indep_score=0.82 clusters=5 claim_tier=notable] [kind-backfill 2026-09-15: kind=attributed eligibility=high]
Sources
- The Ten Most Disturbing Scientific Discoveries (seed:science_and_space)
- https://lewis-clark.org/sciences/geology/paleontology/mastodons/ (corroboration)
- https://home.nps.gov/jeff/learn/historyculture/mastodon-teeth.htm (corroboration)
- https://boundarystones.weta.org/2024/06/06/paleontologist-chief-thomas-jeffersons-quest-mastodon (corroboration)
- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/573995/thomas-jefferson-mastodon-obsession-fueled-lewis-and-clark-expedition (corroboration)
- https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/thomas-jefferson-built-this-country-on-mastodons (corroboration)