1. more troops
2. more losses
3. US helped win wars
What I can infer from what Lewis and Clark saw when moving west from the Mississippi river is that the landscape along the river changed drasticallly. The forest receded, replaced first by the high prairie and then the shorter grass of the high plains. The temperatures became colder and as they continued their expedition by the river they realized that there was no water route to the pacific ocean, just more mountains.
The West, region, western U.S., mostly west of the Great Plains and including, by federal government definition, Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
I believe the answer is all of above