Part of the territory was transferred from Spain to France and then from France to the United States.

It was intended that the exploring party should pass the winter of 1803-4 in St.Louis, then a mere village which had been commonly known as Pain Court.

But the Spanish governor of the province had not been officially told that the country had been transferred to the United States, and, after the Spanish manner, he forbade the passage of the Americans through his jurisdiction.

In those days communication between frontier posts and points lying far to the eastward of the Mississippi was very difficult; it required six weeks to carry the mails between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington to St.Louis; and this was the reason why a treaty, ratified in July, was not officially heard of in St.Louis as late as December of that year.

The explorers, shut out of Spanish territory, recrossed the Mississippi and wintered at the mouth of Wood River, just above St.Louis, on the eastern side of the great river, in United States territory.