Development proposed on arch grounds - Officers elected - Foundation honors award winners
--Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation I www.lewisandclark.org November 2007 Volume 33, N o. 4 OF THERMOMETERS AND TEMPERATURES ON THE EXPEDITION ~~~- '\"'
CRUZATTE'S CONTRIBUTIONS FIRE IMPACTS ON THE LANDSCAPE Contents
President's Message: Bicentennial is over, but we're just getting started 2
Letters: Murder vs. suicide; Corps of Engineers river management 4
The Eyes of "St. Peter" 6 The "one-eyed" fiddle player's vision seems to have been fine in every instance except for the one in which he shot Captain Lewis By A. Fraser Siehl
Fire Impacts on the Bitterroot Valley 12 Choosing the right stream at Decision Point, p. 7 Today's landscape differs greatly from the one viewed by the Corps of Discovery By John Puckett
Of Thermometers and Temperatures on the 16 Lewis and Clark Expedition Where and when Lewis obtained thermometers remains a mystery By Robert R. Hunt
Dispatches 23 Foundation elects board of directors and selects slate of officers for 2007-08; Foundation honors outstanding achievements and contributions at 39th meeting
L&C Roundup 25 Commercial development proposed on Gateway Arch grounds; Forest fire impacted the expedition's view, p. 13 Trail extension study legislation introduced in Congress
Reviews 28 Seeking a Newer World: The Fort Osage journals and Letters of George Sibley 1808-1811; Bon Appetit! -AND- The Life and Times of George P Drouillard Lewis and Clark's Shawnee Hunter and Interpreter
Annual Meeting 30 Charlottesville area welcomes foundation for 39th annual meeting
Soundings 32 Reflections from a past president By Ron Laycock
Dr. Antoine Saugrain, p. 20 On the cover This view of the west front of Monticello provides a visual image of a typical winter day during which Thomas Jefferson would have recorded the temperature. He compared his twice-daily readings with data he received from others.including friends abroad and Dr. James Madison at the College of William and Mary. Jefferson's passion for thermometers and weather data is evident in his correspondence dating 25 years before the expedition began. He and his colleagues at the American Philosophical Society envisioned a national meteorological system. President's Message Bicentennial is over, hut we'rejust getting started
N ovember 2 007 • Volume 33, Number 4 We Proceeded On is the official publication _/0~ n October 1, a new year (and we are highly committed to of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage ~j began for the Lewis and making it so), it will be the first of Foundation, Inc. l cs name derives from Clark Trail Heritage many exc1tmg partnerships with a phnse that appears repeatedly in the collective journals of the expedition. ©2007 Foundation. It is my pleasure and youth organizations. Our Education privilege to serve as your president Committee is gearing up and will be E. G. Chujnard, M.D., Founder for 2008. Occasionally when I explain defining ongoing Lewis and Clark ISSN 02275-6706 the tasks I have taken on, some based programs that will appeal to Editor have asked, "Why now? Isn't the educators and youth in our trail states Wendy M. Raney P.O. Box 3434 bicentennial over? Aren't Lewis and and beyond. Great Falls, MT 59403 Clark finished?" My answer is always We ARE the Keepers of the Story. 406-454-1234 a resounding, "NO, the The bicentennial taught us w [email protected] Lewis and Clark story is many things. One of the most Volunteer Proofreaders just getting started!" important is that we have to H . Carl Camp Have we all been a little tell the whole story, not just Jerry Garrett "burned out" recently? the part we remember from Printed by PRISM Color Corporation, Of course! H as much of our history books. Moo restown, New Jersey our energy the past 10 ,.:; The National Council Eo1TO RLAI.. BoARD years focused solely on the for the Lewis and Clark James J. Holmberg, leader bicentennial and honoring Bicentennial and the Louisville, Kentucky the expedition's story, National Park Service were Robert C. Carriker its complexity and its Seaberg committed to asking tribes Spokane, Washington diversity? Yes! However, to tell their stories in their Glen Lindeman Pullman, Washington now that we have a post-bicentennial own words. They highlighted the year under our belts and can reflect dedication of not only the military Membership Information back, it is obvious that the bicentennial corps, but also that of Sacagawea Membership in the Lewis and Clark Trail was just the beginning. It was the and York during the commemorative Heritage Foundation, Inc. is open to the catalyst that launched hundreds of years. The foundation's board of public. Information and applications are available by writing Membership thousands of unsuspecting children directors and I are committed to Coordinator, Lewis and Clark Trail H eritage and adults into a world of exciting carrying this important lesson into Foundatio n, P.O. Box 3434, Great Falls, MT living history, family recreation, a the third century. The Diversity 59403. better understanding of their tribal Committee soon will be making We Proceeded On, the quarterly magazine neighbors, and conservation of our recommendations as to how the of the Foundation, is mailed to current beautiful and endangered land. The foundation can better interact with members in February, May, August, and N ovember. Articles appearing in this journal bicentennial years set the stage for an tribes as we move forward. arc abstracted and indexed in HtsTORlCAl.. incredible third century! We ARE the Stewards of the Trail ABSTRACTS and AME RI CA: H ISTORY AND LIFE. Now, more than ever, our historic and, trust me, it is a daunting task. Annual Membership Categories: trail is in1portant to the youth of Our trail is already long, but it will our country. If you don't believe be even longer when we can officially Student $30 Library/Nonprofit $40 this statement, I suggest you read include the Eastern Legacy states. Individual $49 a book Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs Working within the congressional Fami ly/International $65 recommended to me at the annual arena is a complex and demanding H eritage C lub $1 00 meeting, Last Child in the Woods, by process, but we are committed to Explorer Club $150 Jefferson C lub $250 Richard Louv. I am reading it now, making this happen. Wendy Raney Discovery Club $500 and it tells an alarming story. We and the Eastern Legacy Committee Expedition C lub $1,000 need to get children out on the trail. continue to make consistent, albeit Leadership Club $2,500 It is important to the wellness of our slow, progress in this area. T he Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, nation to get them out there. Their The amount of interpretation Inc. is a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation. Individual membership dues are not tax deductible. parents will follow. The partnership along the trail has doubled and The portion of premium dues over $49 is tax that we have formed with the Boy tripled. Preservation of these valuable deductible. Scouts of America is an important resources is important, and the Trail step. If this partnership is successful Stewardship Committee is very active
2 ~ We Proceeded On November 2007 FULL-COLOR and committed to preserving the trail. members of this organization. Did PRINTS As the National Park Service's Lewis we lose a few members and chapters • Significant • Uniforms and Clark Challenge Cost Share after the bicentennial? Of course, it events on the of the Corps program comes to an end, we will was expected. The exciting news is Lewis & of Discovery. constantly be looking for new ways to that our staff had six new-chapter Clark Trail. fund trail stewardship. Thanks to the inquiries at the annual meeting in efforts of Dr. Robert August. With our A rchibald, the expanding emphasis Nati on al Council for on wellness, youth, the Lewis and Clark cultural diversity Bicentennial and the and trail programs, Missouri Historical I know the future is Society gave us $1.6 extremely bright. million from the The foundation U.S. Mint coin sales is blessed with a to be held in trust solid, committed for trail stewardship board of directors, activities. Each a small but talented year we are allowed to transfer staff, a beautiful new national office approximately $80,000 from trust and wonderful federal partners. earnings into our general budget to My door and those of the staff fund trail-related initiatives. That is are truly "open. " We want to visit MICHAEL HAYNES extremely important when you realize local chapters, both at regional and www.mhaynesart.com. that by the end of 2008, we will have individual chapter meetings. The lost $250,000 per year in Park Service Membership Committee is working Challenge Cost Share grant money hard to develop new membership that funded specific programming in options. Give them your ideas-they our foundation budget. will listen. I encourage you to get Financial independence is critical involved. to our organization's future. The If you are interested in a particular Third Century Campaign to raise foundation committee, go online and a $5-million endowment is now e-mail a committee chairperson. If in full swing. You will be hearing you have ideas, shoot them our way. much more about it in the coming I can't promise that we will be able to months. I cannot stress it too many act on each suggestion immediately, times - this campaign is critical to but we are interested in them all. the foundation's financial health and Be persistent, but also be patient. solvency. To continue to fund our Remember, our staff is small and our small but incredibly talented staff, plate is very full. Over 375 pictures of preserve and expand the Sherman As we prepare for this exciting and Signature Events from Library services, develop the trail busy year, I think it will be helpful Monticello to the Pacific and membership programs that are for you to know my motto. It was in progress, and create new initiatives on a birthday card a friend gave me a and back to St. Louis with: with youth and other diverse groups, few years ago and I have kept it with documentation, narration, we will need at the very least, the me ever since. I lived by it during the and musical background. $250,000 that can be legally drawn out bicentennial and survived pretty much of a $5-million endowment each year. intact! I think this year we will all be That added to the $80,000 from the living by it again! Please send check for trail stewardship trust each year will $13.95 payable to: gain us the independence we need to "The Deep End ls Where Historic Locust Grove carry out our programs. The Fun Happens!" P.O.Box43 Finally, and most importantly, this Harrods Creek, KY 40027 will be a year of re-establishing a strong - Karen Seaberg p artnership with you, the chapters and President, LCTHF www.locustgrove.org
November 2007 We Proceeded On. - 3 Letters The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. Murder vs. suicide; Corps river management P.O . Box 3434, Great Falls, MT 59403 406-454-1234 I 1-888-701-3434 Fax: 406-771-923 7 www.lewisandclark.org After reading the letter from Don believe Lewis was mentally ill at the time Popejoy in the August 2007 WPO, I am of his death and committed suicide, but The mission of the LCTHF is: compelled to comment. this is no reason to perpetuate myths. As Keepers of the St0ry - Stewards of I am glad Mr. Popejoy wants to GLEN KIRKPATRICK the trail, the Lewis and Clark Trail Heri focus on Meriwether Lewis's life and Molalla, Ore. tage Foundation, Inc. provides national accomplishments after the expedition, leadership in maintaining the integrity of the Trail and its story through steward rather than on his death. However, I ship, scholarship, education, partnership strongly disagree with his statement that Corps of Engineers river management and cultural inclusiveness. it is "a terrible slander to the memory I will leave it to others to discuss the of Lewis not to present both sides of adverse economic and environmental Offi cers the controversy" about Lewis's death, effects of U.S. Army Corps of Engineer President murder or suicide. The evidence is projects on the Ohio, Missouri and Karen Seaberg simply overwhelming. Mississippi rivers and instead comment Atchison, Kans. Lewis died by his own hand, brought briefly on the catastrophic effects of President-Elect on by mental illness. He was psychotic the agency's projects on the Columbia James Brooke and delusional at the time of his death. River system that I am most familiar Colorado Springs, Colo. Proponents of the murder hypothesis with. The article by Jeannine Nauss and Vice-President always fail to mention Lewis's erratic Kenneth Wilk in the August 2007 WPO Chris H owell behavior prior to the events at Grinder's and sidebar, "Modern Corps manages Topeka, Kans. Stand. It is well documented that upon rivers responsibly," demand a critical Secretary his arrival at Fort Pickering, post commentary. Larry McClure commander, Major Gilbert C. Russell, Lewis and Clark indeed would Tualatin, Oregon found him to be in a "state of mental be impressed by today's ease of Treasurer derangement" and learned that the transportation on the Columbia and Clay Smith boat crew had been watching Lewis Snake rivers, but at what cost? The Great Falls, Mont. closely because he had twice tried to "seaport" at Lewiston, Idaho, a pork barrel bone to local economic and Immediate Past h esident commit suicide. Russell detained him Jim Gramentine and in about a week Lewis apparently political interests, surrounded the city Mequon, Wisc. recovered enough to resume his journey in 1974 with $80 million worth of beautified dikes, levees and a bypass. Executive Director along the Natchez Trace. Murder buffs Carol A. Bronson also fail to mention the erratic letter he This created a seaport that fills yearly wrote to James Madison (Tackson letter with silt and now threatens the city Di rectors at large #297) on September 16, 1809, just prior with fl ooding. (Does that sound familiar Jay Buckley, O rem, Utah • Peyton "Bud" to his death. Lastly, those who knew to you fo lks in the Mississippi River Clark, Dearborn, Mich. • Margaret Gorski, him best at the time never doubted he Basin?) Local taxpayers still subsidize Stevensville, Mom. • Jane Randol Jackson, took his own life. the local "seaports." The federal Cape Girardeau, Mo. • Jim Mallory, The real debate is what caused the government subsidizes the lock system Lexington, Ky.• Bill Stevens, Pierre, S.D. • through which barges often carry Stephenie Ambrnse Tubbs, H elena, Mont. mental disorder? Was it a depressive • Richard Williams, Omaha, Neb. • Phyllis disorder, cerebral malaria, neurosyphilis federally subsidized timber products Yeager, Floyds Knobs, Ind. or opium/alcohol abuse? Was it a and grains to the Port of Portland, combination of the above? There is which no longer can handle the largest Active Past Presid ents some evidence in Lewis's writing that ocean ships without further dredging along the lower Columbia River. David Borlaug, Washburn, N .D. • he was bi-polar. Authors have suggested Larry Epstein, Cut Bank, Mont.• James these diseases and many others over Except for John Day Dam, there is R. Fazio, Moscow, Idaho • Robert E. the years. My hypothesis is that he virtually no flood protection provided Gatten, Jr., Greensboro, N.C. • James likely was bi-polar and one or more by the other three lower Columbia River Gramentine, Mequon, Wisc. • Jane H enley, of the illnesses previously mentioned dams and the four lower Snake River Charlottesville, Va. • Gordon Julich, aggravated or contributed to his dams. The dams' reservoirs cover the Blue Springs, Mo. • Barbara }. Kubik, delusional and psychotic mental state, riparian lands that once supported small Vancouver, Wash. • Ron Laycock, Benson, family farms, orchards, and the villages Minn. • H . John Montague, Portland, O re. resulting in his death by his own hand. • James M. Peterson, Vermillion, S.D . • H owever, we will never know for sure and burial sites of the thousands oflndians Patti Thomsen, Oconomowoc, Wisc. what caused his mental illness. encountered by Lewis and Clark. On the As keepers of the story, we should not Snake River, about a dozen corporate Incorporated in 1969 under Missouri General perpetuate myths about our heroes and farms receive subsidized electricity Not-For-Profit Corporation Act. 1RS Exemption Certificate No. 50l(c)3, Identification No. 510187715. be modern-day revisionists of history. to farm subsidized crops on former Many people simply do not want to desert lands. Few people recreate on the
4 ~ We Proceeded On November 2007 2007 Meritorious Achievement Award - Lewis and Clark Trail reservoirs in this sparsely populated area EDITOR'S NOTE: The editor requested Heritage Foundation where temperatures above 100 degrees that a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are common. The dams have lowered historian submit an article to WPO on Dear Fellow Members of LCTHF: the history of the rivers of Lewis and water quality by slowing the water flow. At the annual meeting in Charlot· The water heats to temperatures that Clark. Additonally, the editor wrote the tesvi lle I was honored to receive this are lethal for salmonids migrating up headlines for the sidebar and article. award for Lewis and Clark Road Trips and downstream. To cool the water and and its website. Now I am asking for speed the fish, other upstream reservoirs your help in achieving further devel· are lowered during the summer, which Our Community Remains Vibrant opment of the Lewis and Clark heri threatens agricultural interests in As we say goodbye to summer and tage tourism trai l. southern Idaho. Drawdowns at the 730- anticipate winter, we all should realize In October, 2007 the Lewis and Clark foot Dworshak Dam on the North Fork that our Lewis and Clark community Road Trips website will begin host situated across the Clearwater Rive; in the post-bicentennial period ing three ongoing public forums: a Trail Travel Forum, a Lewis and Clark from the Lewis and Clark Expedition's continues to be vibrant. Although Journals Forum, and a Photo & Video "Canoe Camp," provide the reservoir attendance at the 39th annual meeting in Charlottesville was down from previous Trail Gallery. shoreline with a summer "bathtub ring" I am leading a Journals study group years-I'm told there were about 250 due to water fluctuations that range from at the Omaha Public Library; and we 80 to 100 feet. registrations-from my perspective, are asking groups to form around Dworshak Dam also blocked a huge the event was a huge success. I've also the country. Anybody can contribute steelhead run, necessitating development observed that plans for the 40th annual to the internet forums, which will be of one of the many fish hatcheries across meeting in Great Falls next year (August moderated. Local groups and ind ivid the Northwest built to replace lost £sh 10-13) are moving along at full speed! uals can share comments, travel sto runs. These hatcheries raise salmon and There were several attendees at ries and images with others around the annual meeting in Charlottesville, the world on the website. The website steelhead without the genetic diversity and my monthly newsletter will have of w ild fish, and their genes then Virginia, from our California Chapter, and for many, it was their first annual more information. pollute the few wild fish that survive. Sincerely, meeting. From what I could tell, they Lamprey, sockeye and coho salmon Kira Gale have been virtually extirpated on the all had a great time in spite of the triple Snake River system and the surviving digit temperatures and high humidity. wild runs of salmon and steelhead that One of the highlights for me was enter the Snake, Salmon and Clearwater the after-hours reception held for us river systems are all listed under the at Monticello by the Thomas Jefferson Endangered Species Act. Slowing Foundation. I'm told we are one of the migration, the dams allow the natural few organizations they do this for, which is another indicator of the stature of our and introduced predators to have an klra@lewisandclarktravel. com unnaturally large impact on the few foundation. Unlike their traditional tours, we were allowed to stroll through remaining anadromous fish. The loss www. lewi sandclarkroadtri ps. com of the wild fish in upstream tributaries the rooms of Monticello at our leisure, adversely impacts as many as 30 other and in each room there was a superb species of plants and animals. docent to describe its contents and Lewis and Clark Road Trips: answer any questions we had. Tables of Exploring the Trail Across America For more than 30 years, about $7 Kira Gale billion have been spent in the Columbia hors d' oeuvres, wine and cheese filled River basin on improving fish runs and the south lawn, and we stayed until the on dozens of studies that have searched fireflies began to appear around 9:30 Buy from our unsuccessfully for solutions. Northwest P .M. It was a wondedul evening! Amazon web- Indians and sport and commercial KEN Jurzr site bookstore fishermen fight over the dregs of fish Camarillo, Calif. featuring the Top runs that once ran in the millions. Lewis Fifty Lewis and Clark books and and Clark might be impressed by the Clarification children's books. giant barges on the Columbia, but A.J.1 article in the August \VPO should maybe they would question whether have made it clear that Auguste the "Modern Corps manages rivers Bougainville and Louis Lorirnier, Jr., ISBN : 0964931524 $29.9S responsibly." I hope they would for the were the only sons of Louis Lorirnier to Paperback 9 x 12 274 pages sake of the fl ora, fauna and Indians. attend West Point. River Junction Press LLC This letter was written after consulting Gift shop and Distributor: IPG with retired fishery biologists from the book store 800- 888- 4741 Idaho Department of Fish and Game. WPO welcomes letters. Send them to us do retail orders [email protected] JOHN W. FISHER Editor, WPO, P 0 . Box3434, Great Falls, MT www.ipgbook.com Julietta, Idaho 59403 (e-mail [email protected]).
November 2007 We Proceeded On ~ 5 THE EYES OF "ST. PETER"
The "one-eyed" fiddle player's vision seems to have been fine in every instance except for the one in which he shot Captain Lewis
B Y A. FRASER SIEHL
n his July 23, 1804, journal entry, Private Joseph rivers. Cruzatte had the ability and exp erience to read Whitehouse wrote, "G. Drevyer & St. Peter a river, which allowed him to find the best route up the I Set out to go to the Zotoe & Paunie village ... "1 turbulent Missouri River and down whatever rivers they Whitehouse was referring to George Drouillard, the found west of the Rocky Mountains in the expedition's primary woodsman, hunter and practitioner of Indian search for the Northwest Passage. (His talents as a fiddler sign language for the Lewis and C lark Expedition, and and his hunting prowess were bonuses for the corps.) Private Pierre Cruzatte, the principal waterman, who The general course of the Missouri River from its also served as a hunter, fiddle player and part-time mouth to the Mandan and Hidatsa villages in present interpreter. Both men were indispensable members of day North Dakota had been traveled and mapped, but the expedition; however, w hile many of today's writers the current could change the course of the river. O n their and historians regularly list Drouillard with Captains return downstream in 1806, Clark noted how the channel Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and Sacagawea in of the Missouri had changed in the year or two since their terms of their importance to the venture, Cruzatte often ascent.5 Eddies and sandbars were in a constant state of is referred to as the "one-eyed fiddle player." flux. O n August 11 , 1806, in present-day eastern Montana Cruzatte had a working knowledge of the lower as the Lewis and Clark Expedition was returning home, Missouri and its tributaries and the Indians that lived on Cruzatte shot Lewis in his " back side"2 when the two them. He also knew how to read the ever-changing river were hunting elk. Lewis and Clark reported that it was a to find the safest and quickest path around rapids and hunting accident, which occurred when Cruzatte, due to sandbars and use eddies to advance the party upstream. poor eyesight, mistook Lewis for an elk. Lewis wrote that Often the expedition relied on his ability to see river "he cannot see very well." 3 Clark noted, "This Crusat is dangers ahead and plot their next course. It was a job near Sighted and has the use of but one eye. "4 During that required good eyesight. the 28-month journey these were the only references to Little is known about Cruzatte compared to Cruzatte having poor eyesight. Drouillard and other members of the expedition. H e It seems improbable that Lewis and Clark would have was the son of a French father and an Omaha mother. hired a myopic, half-blind man to help them navigate the The date and location of his birth, and whether he· was 6 - We Proceeded On November 2007 At Decision Point, the confluence of the Marias and Missouri rive rs, Lewis and Clark differed with Cruzatte on which fork they shou ld take to reach the Great Falls of the Missouri. After investigating both streams, the expedition continued down the south fork and the captains' cho ic e proved to be right.
a husband or father, are unknown. He had been a trader hazards such as sawyers, sandbars and other obstacles to among the Indians of the lower Missouri River, at least safe passage up the river, as well as helpful eddies, which as far upriver as present-day Nebraska for several years. could be used to ease the strain of moving the boats He may have been a resident of St. C harles, Missouri, upriver against the strong currents. where he joined the expedition. What he did after the The captains relied on Cruzatte's eyesight from the expedition apparently is undocumented. The genesis of beginning. While still in present-day Missouri on June the nickname "St. Peter" is long forgotten. 21, 1804, Clark noted, "after the Bows man Peter Crousat Cruzatte joined the Corps of Discovery and became viewed The water on each Side of the Island which a private in the U. S. Army along with Fram,:ois Labiche presented a most unfavourable prospect of Swift water at St. Charles on May 16, 1804, two days after Clark and over roleing Sands which rored like an immence falls, we the main party started out from their winter quarters Concluded to assend on the right Side. " 7 This was the at Camp River Dubois. Whether they were hired that first of many references to the expedition's dependence day or earlier that winter is uncertain, but they likely on Cruzatte's river experience. If Labiche's or anyone were hired on the recommendation of the Chouteau else's advice was ever heeded, it is not mentioned in the family of St. Louis who were prominent in the Missouri journals. River trade. Cruzatte, Drouillard and Labiche all were It is possible that Cruzatte sustained an injury or illness of mixed French and Indian descent. They were neither during the expedition that caused sight impairment. At U.S. Army perso1mel nor Kentucky frontiersmen. Fort C latsop on December 29, 1805, Clark wrote that Both Cruzatte and Labiche were assigned as bowsmen Cruzatte was sick with a violent cold.8 This was only the for the keelboat. Their duties were spelled out in the second time that C ruzatte was reported to have suffered Detachment Orders of May 26, 1804: "Labuche and from injury or illness. The first was on October 25, Crusat will man the larboard oar alternately, and the one 1804, as the party approached the Mandan villages when not engaged at the oar will attend as the Bows-man, and Clark wrote, "R. Fields with the rhumitim in his neck, P. when the attention of both these persons is necessary at Crusat with the Same Complaint in his Legs - "9 Neither the bow, their oar is to be maned by any idle hand on of these illnesses would account for the impairment of board. - "6 The bowsman was responsible for spotting eyesight. November 2007 We Proceeded On - 7 Cruzatte is not mentioned as one who contracted as the Cascades of the Columbia, Clark explored below venereal disease through sexual intercourse with Indian the cascades and noted, "from this place I dispatched women during the expedition, but often those suffering Peter Crusat (our principal waterman) back to follow the from a medical problem were not mentioned by name river and examine the practibility of the Canoes passing in the journals. Venereal disease can cause the loss of .. •" 13 They chose to portage around these rapids. eyesight over time and perhaps prior sexual encounters HUNTER, INTERPRETER AND FIDDLER had affected his sight by the end of the expedition. The loss of an eye or injury causing sight impairment would The primary duty of most members of the expedition was seem noteworthy, especially for someone with Cruzatte's propelling the keelboat and the white and red pirogues responsibilities. up the Missouri River by oar, pole or cord. In addition to those duties, and that of bowsman, Cruzatte also took RIVER NAVIGATION his turn as a hunter. On August 2, 1804, Sergeant John When the expedition reached the mouth of the Marias Ordway wrote that Cruzatte killed a fine buck.14 River in early June 1805, Cruzatte's river experience On October 20, 1804, Cruzatte became the first created a dilemma for the captains. The Hidatsa Indians member of the party to encounter a grizzly bear. In his had not mentioned this fork of the Missouri and there natural history notes for that day, Lewis wrote, cc Peter was a question as to which stream to follow. They had to Crusat this day shot at a white bear he wounded him, but follow the correct fork to find the Shoshone Indians and being alarmed at the formidable appearance of the bear a crossing to the Columbia River system. The captains he left his tomahalk and gun; but shortly after returned thought the Missouri was the south fork, but Cruzatte and found that the bear had taken the oposite rout. - " 15 had a different opinion, according to Lewis. After reaching the Pacific Coast, they built their Cruzatte who had been an old Missouri navigator winter quarters on the south side of the Columbia River. and who from his integrity knowledge and skill as During the winter at Fort Clatsop, attention was turned a waterman had acquired the confidence of every to procuring food. On March 2nd, 1806, Clark wrote individual of the party declared it as his opinion that the N . fork was the true genuine Missouri that Drouillard, Cruzatte and Weiser "returned with a and could be no other. finding them so determined most acceptable Supply of fat Sturgen, fresh anchoves in this beleif, and wishing that if we were in an and a bag Containing about a bushel of Wappato. " 16 error to be able to detect it and rectify it as soon as Cruzatte also played a crucial role as an interpreter. possible it was agreed between Capt. C. and myself that one of us should set out with a small party by President Thomas Jefferson had recognized the land up the South fork and continue our rout up importance of the Sioux to the United States's trading it untill we found the falls or reached the snowy future in its newly acquired territory. In a January 22, Mountains by which means we should be enabled 1804, letter to Lewis, Jefferson wrote, "On that nation to determine this question prety accurately. 10 we wish most particularly to make a friendly impression, After several days of further investigation the captains' because of their immense power ... "17 In late August choice proved to be right. 1804, the expedition met with the Yankton Sioux near While delayed at the mouth of the Marias, the captains present-day Yankton, South Dakota. Pierre Dorian Sr., decided to leave behind the red pi.rogue, some kegs whom the party had met on June 12th as he was traveling of salt and gunpowder, heavy kettles and utensils and down the Missouri to St. Louis with furs, had agreed to provisions that would lighten their loads for the portage proceed back up the river with the expedition to act as a around the Great Falls of the Missouri River. Lewis Sioux interpreter. H e had lived among the Yanktons for found that Cruzatte previously had prepared caches and many years and had a Yankton wife and children. During left management of the task of concealing the surplus the August meeting, the Yan.ktons requested that Dorian items entirely to him.11 remain with them, which he did to organize a delegation Later that year, on October 24, 1805, the expedition trip to Washington, D.C., that he hoped would include encountered the short narrows of the Columbia River. other Sioux nations. The expedition would meet other The captains again relied on Cruzatte. Clark noted that bands of Sioux before Dorian could talk with them. The both he and Cruzatte believed the corps could pass safely job of interpreting for these remaining Sioux apparently through the rapids, which they did. 12 fell to Drouillard and Cruzatte. At what they called "the great shute," now referred to When the expedition met with the Teton Sioux, near
8 - We Proceeded O n November 2007 present-day Pierre, fortunately were South Dakota, they convenient, while himself and two had trouble communi others rowed her cating. Sergeant John as[h]ore.21 Ordway wrote they Clark also wrote did not have a good that they owed the interpreter, "but the old preservation of the frenchrnan could make pirogue to the reso them understand tollar lution and fortitude able well." 18 Cruzatte of Cruzatte. 22 may have been trans lating through Omaha Throughout the prisoners the Tetons iourney, Cruzatte held.19 The Omaha pris often was credited oners did tell Cruzatte with lifting the spirit that the Tetons were of the corps with his planning to stop the ex fiddling. "In the eve pedition from proceed ning Cruzatte gave ing up river with their us some music on the supplies.20 The Tetons violin and the men did not like the idea passed the evening in of boatloads of mer dancing singing &c chandise and weapons and were extremely ( 23 going upriver to other cheerfull. - " tribes. Twice during THE RETURN the expedition's stay, JOURNEY AND THE armed hostilities were SHOOTING INCI averted only because DENT the captains stood up to the Tetons' threats. On March 23, It was not the friendly 1806, the Corps of impression Jefferson Discovery left Fort had wanted. Clatsop and began Pierre Cruzatte was hired by Lewis and Clark for his knowledge of and experience On May 14, 1805, on the river. His talents as a fiddler and hunter were welcome additions to the Corps its journey home. Cruzatte provided an of Discovery. The expedition other valuable service. proceeded up the The captains were walking together on shore when they Columbia River to just below the mouth of the Snake noticed the white pirogue was in trouble. A sudden River, and on the advice of the Walla Walla Indians, went squall had turned the pirogue on its side. They could do cross-country to near the mouth of the Clearwater River. nothing to help because of their distance from the boat. Returning to their Nez Perce friends, they retrieved Lewis described the scene in his journal. their horses and waited impatiently on the banks of the Clearwater for the snow to melt sufficiently to cross the Charbono still crying to his god for mercy, had not Bitterroot Mountains. yet recollected the rudder, nor could the repeated orders of the Bowsman, Crozat, bring him to With Nez Perce guides, they crossed the Lolo Trail his recollection untill he threatend to shoot him in about half the time it had taken the previous fall. The instantly if he did not take hold of the rudder and party returned to Travelers' Rest east of the Bitterroot do his duty, the waves by this time were runing Mountains on June 30, 1806. On July 3rd, the captains very high, but the fortitude resolution and good conduct of Cruzat saved her; he ordered 2 ·of the split the Corps of Discovery into two contingents in order men to throw out the water with some kettles that to explore new territory east of the Rocky Mountains.
November 2007 We Proceeded On ~ 9 Lewis and nine men went up the Big Blackfoot River to ' preswaded that it was an indian that had shot me cross over present-day Lewis and Clark Pass to the Great as the report of the gun did not appear to be more than 40 paces from me and Cruzatte appeared to be Falls of the Missouri. From there, Lewis and three men out of hearing of me; in this situation not knowing (Drouillard and the two Field brothers) went to explore how many indians there might be concealed in the the upper Marias River. bushes I thought best to make good my retreat to From Travelers' Rest, Clark, Cruzatte and 21 other the perogue, calling out as I ran for the first hundred paces as loud as I could to Cruzatte to reu·eat that members of the expedition went up the Bitterroot there were indians hoping to alarm him in time to River, then over Gibbons Pass and proceeded to Camp make his escape also; ... the party returned with Fortunate at the fork of the Beaverhead River to retrieve Cruzatte and reported that there were no indians nor the appearance of any; Cruzatte seemed much the supplies and canoes left there the previous fall. They allarmed and declared if be had shot me it was not then went downstream to the Three Forks of the Missouri. his intention, that he had shot an Elk in the willows From there, Clark set off for the Yellowstone River on after he left or seperated from me. I asked him horseback over what is now Bozeman Pass, and Cruzatte whether he did not hear me when I called to him so frequently which he absolutely denied. I do not went with Ordway and eight other men downstream by believe tl1at the fellow did it intentionally but after canoe to the Great Falls of the Missouri to meet Sergeant finding that he had shot me was anxious to conceal Patrick Gass and five other men from Lewis's party. his knowledge of having done so . 2 ~ They portaged around the falls and retrieved the white Clark learned of the shooting the next day, August pirogue. With the pirogue, five canoes and horses, they 12th, when he and Lewis reunited their respective continued down the Missouri to rendezvous with Lewis contingents. Here is how C lark described Lewis's at the mouth of the Marias . Cruzatte was a productive mishap, obviously after having a chance to talk to him. hunter during this time. On July 13th he killed a deer, on the 15th a pronghorn, on the 17th two or three big horn Crusat Seeing Capt. L. passing through the bushes and takeing him to be an Elk from the Colour of his sheep and on the 26th a buffalo. Cloathes which were of leather and very nearly that While on the upper Marias, Lewis's reconnaisance unit of an Elk fired and unfortunately the ball passed met and warily camped with an eight-member Piegan through the thy as aforesaid. Capt Lewis thinking it indians who had Shot him hobbled to the canoes Blackfeet party on July 26th. The next morning, the as fast as possible and was followered by Crusat, Piegans attempted to take the party's guns and horses, the mistake was then discovered. This Crusat is according to Lewis. They did not initially try to kill the near Sighted and has the use of but one eye, he is an Americans. While preventing the theft, Lewis's party attentive industerous man and one whome we both have placed the greatest Confidence in dureing the regained their guns and got the better of the horses, whole rout. - 25 killing two Piegans in the process. Expecting a larger group of nearby Piegans to pursue them, Lewis and his The captains were the only members of the expedition men made a hurried escape by riding all day and night. to reference Cruzatte's impaired eyesight in their descrip They then made a rather fortuitous rendezvous with tions of the shooting incident, and their versions differ Ordway, Gass, Cruzatte and the others several miles on some points. P erhaps Clark misunderstood Lewis's above the mouth of the Marias River on July 28, 1806. account of the incident. It is possible that Cruzatte They traveled down the Missouri to rendezvous with sustained an eye injury between the Three Forks of the Clark's party, which was descending the Yellowstone Missouri and the mouth of the Marias River when he was River. not with either captain. The incident that called into question Cruzatte's In the fi rst official publication of the expedition, editor eyesight occurred on this leg of the journey. Nicholas Biddle wrote of the shooting incident, "It instantly occurred to him that Cruzatte must have shot ... I was in the act of firing on the Elk a second him by mistake for an elk, as he was dressed in brown time when a ball struck my left thye ... I instantly 26 supposed that Cruzatte had shot me in mistake for leather, and Cruzatte had not a very good eye-sight. " an Elk as I was dressed in brown leather and he Biddle relied on the journals, correspondence with cannot see very well; under th.is .impression I called Clark, and conversations with Clark and Private George out to him damn you, you have shot me, and looked Shannon in compiling his narrative. Shannon was with towards the place from whence the ball had come, seeing nothing I called Cruzatte several times as Clark on the Yellowstone River and was not a witness loud as I could but received no answer; I was now to Lewis's injury. Unfortunately, there is no mention of
10 ~ W'e Pmceeded O n November 2007 the incident in Donald Jackson's Letters of the Lewis and Press, 1983-2001 ), Vol. 11, p. 44. All quotations or references to Clark Expedition and Related Documents in either the journal entries in the ensuing text are from Moulton, by date. Moulton's footnote to this entry says of St. Peter, "Apparently "Biddle Notes" or in any of the correspondence between Cruzatte, with terminology used only by Ordway." Clark and Biddle that could shed light on what "not a 2 Ibid., Vol. 9, p. 347. Ordway's entry for August 11, 1806. very good eye sight" means. 3 Ibid., Vol. 8, p. 155. Lewis's entry for August 11, 1806. The expedition arrived in St. Louis September 23, ~Ibid., p. 290. Clark's entry for August 12, 1806. 1806, and on October 10th, Cruzatte was among a 5 Ibid. Clark mentioned changes in the river channel in journal majority of the men who were discharged. He earned entries on August 20, 1806, pp. 310-311; September 3, 1806, p. $5 per month for a total of roughly $144. From that 347; and September 9, p. 354. point on, little is known about C ruzatte's life. In fact, 6 Ibid., Vol. 2, p . 258. less has been uncovered about his life than of most other 7 Ibid., p. 313. Clark's entry for June 21, 1804. members of the expedition. 8 Ibid., Vol. 6, p. 141. Clark's entry for December 29, 1805. He was sued for non-payment of a $300 debt, but ? Ibid., Vol. 3, p . 198. Clark's entry for October 25, 1804 on June 29, 1807, after three successive warrants were 10 Ibid., Vol. 4, p. 271. Lewis's entry for June 9, 1805. issued for his arrest and he had not been found, the suit 11 Ibid., p. 269. Lewis's entry for June 9, 1805. was dismissed. On the front cover of Clark's 1825-1828 12 Ibid., Vol. 5, p. 333. Clark's entry for October 24, 1804. cashbook and journal, he summarized his knowledge 13 of the whereabouts of the members of the expedition. Ibid., p. 361. Clark's entry for October 31, 1805. Cruzatte was listed as "killed."27 14 Ibid., Vol. 9, p. 33. Ordway's entry for August 2, 1804. It has been speculated that Cruzatte returned up the 15 Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 188. Lewis's entry for October 20, 1804. Missouri River and joined the trapping expedition led 16 Ibid., Vol. 6, p. 370. Clark's entry for March 2, 1806. by John McClellan and met his fate in today's northwest 17 Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and Clark Montana in 1807. Lewis and Clark had met McClellan on Expedition with Related Documents, 1783-1854, 2nd edition, 1978 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1968), Vol. 1, p. September 17, 1806, as the expedition hastened toward 166. St. Louis and McClellan was beginning his journey.28 It 18 Moulton, Vol. 9, p. 67. Ordway's entry for September 25, is doubtful that Cruzatte received his double pay and 1804. According to Moulton, this interpreter was probably land warrant for 320 acres of land on the west side of the Cruzatte. Mississippi River, which was granted to each expedition 19 Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 114, n. 1. private by an act of Congress on March 3, 1807. 20 Ibid., p. 121. Clark's entry for September 27, 1804. We may never know how Cruzatte's eyesight affected 21 Ibid., Vol. 4, pp. 152-153. Lewis's entry for May 14, 1805. the events of August 11, 1806. We do know that with 22 Ibid., p. 154. Clark's entry for May 14, 1805. the help of the eyes of "St. Peter," the Lewis and Clark 23 Ibid., p. 272. Lewis's entry for June 9, 1805. Expedition succeeded in navigating the Missouri and Zi Ibid., Vol. 8, pp. 155-156. Lewis's entry for August 11, Columbia rivers and returned safely. If the tide of 1806. Moulton noted that neither Ordway nor Gass seemed "expedition guide" can be assigned to anyone, it is Pierre to believe that Cruzatte was entirely ignorant of having shot Cruzatte. Combined with his hunting, wilderness and Lewis. interpreting skills, guiding made him an indispensable 25 Ibid., p. 290. Clark's entry for August 12, 1806. member of the expedition. Cruzatte deserves better than 26 Nicholas Biddle and Paul Allen, eds., History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to be known as the "one-eyed fiddle player." to the sources of the Missouri River, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, 2 volumes (Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep; and Abm. H. Inskeep, 1814), Vol. 2, p. 363. 27 Jackson, Vol. 2, p. 638. 28 A. Fraser Siehl is an attorney in Eaton, Ohio. He has been a Larry E. Morris, The Fate of the Corps: What Became of the Lewis and Clark Explorers after the Expedition (New Haven: member of the Foundation since 1995. Yale University Press, 2004), pp. 150-152. Harry M. Majors, "John McClellan in the Montana Rockies 1807: The First NOTES Americans After Lewis and Clark," Northwest Discovery: the 1 Gary E. Moulton, ed., The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Journal ofNorthwest History and Natural History, Vol. 2, No. Expedition, 13 Volumes (Lincoln: University of Nebraska 9 (November-December 1981).
November2007 We Proceeded On - 11 FIRE IMPACTS ON THE BITTERROOT VALLEY
Today's landscape differs greatly from the one viewed by the Corps of Discovery
BY JoHN PucKErr
hen the Corps of Discovery reached the their publication, Fire D ependent Forests in the Northern Rocky Mountains, they observed a landscape Rocky Mountains, Dr. James R. H abeck and Robert W. W where the vegetation had been shaped by Mutch note, "Anyone knowing successional patterns wildfire for thousands of years. Unrestrained natural and species relationships can readily observe that a high fire and selective burning by the Native Americans had percentage of the vegetation, within the forest zones, is produced a view that was far different from the way it at one stage or another of succession following past fi res. looks today. What the explorers encountered was open Climax or near climax forest stands that have escaped fire grassland dotted with scattered ponderosa pine trees and for several centuries are only rarely found in northern an occasional Douglas fir or other species. Idaho and western Montana. It is believed that past On September 9, 1805, five days after meeting with uncontrolled fires did not, at any one point in time, create the Salish near present-day Sula, Montana, Captain a completely burned over or denuded landscape. "3 Meriwether Lewis wrote: Forests are comprised of plant communities that, over time, go through stages of succession and eventually Set out at 7AM this morning and proceeded down the Flathead river [Clarke's River or present-day reach a final, or climax, form of vegetation. They begin Bitterroot River] leaving it on our left, the country with bare ground, which often is seen following a in the valley of this river is generally a prarie devastating forest fire, and follow with one vegetative and from 5 to 6 miles wide the growth is almost stage succeeding another until the community reaches altogether pine principally of the longleafed kind, with some spruce and a kind of furr resembleing the climax stage. This process can take many years, the scotch furr. near the wartercourses we find a sometimes even centuries. The community remains in small proportion of the narrow leafed cottonwood the climax stage until a fire destroys the stand, thus some redwood honeysuckle and rosebushes from causing the growth cycle to begin anew. the scant proportion of underbrush to be seen.1 The climax species in the lower elevations of the They camped that night on Travelers' Rest Creek Bitterroot Valley is the Douglas Fir. The year following where Lewis no ted a lack of brushy growth along the a forest fire, the first species to return to this area are streams.2 Today, there is prolific growth of cottonwood, balsamroot, arnica, lupine, bitterroot, bunch grasses and serviceberry, rose and dogwood along the creek. sedges. They are followed in time by shrubs and then trees This dramatic change in the landscape of the Bitterroot including ponderosa pine and Douglas fir. Several factors Valley can be attributed to a variety of contributing can prevent a community from reaching the climax stage: factors, including wildfire management. disease, insect attacks- particularly bark beetles-wind The area encountered by the Corps of Discovery was and fire. Frequent occurrences of forest fires in this valley a mosaic of burns in all stages of growth succession. In generally prevented plant communities from reaching
12 - We Proceeded On November 2007 Grasses have returned to this forest a year after a devasting forest fire. Shrubs and trees will follow in the coming years. Forest fires and dense smoke in the Bitterroot Valley during the summer and early fall of 2007 prevented photograhers from shooting pictures of the landscape. This image of forest regrowth was taken on the North Fork of the Flathead River in western Montana.
the climax stage prior to the establishment of policies to intercepted by mountains to the west, reducing the amount extinguish wildfires. The policies were created when the of rainfall in the valley (elevation 3,000 feet) and creating U.S. Forest Service was established in 1905. a relatively dry climate with an average of 13 inches of Today, there is a preponderance of Douglas fu in moisture per year. Higher elevations, which reach 9,000 growth throughout the ponderosa pine stands in the feet, receive up to 60 inches of moisture annually. Summers Bitterroot Valley resulting from fire exclusion, which in the Bitterroot Valley normally are dry, with most of the refers to keeping fire out of an area by suppressing annual moisture falling as winter and spring snow. Fall all natural fires and stopping all prescribed burning. rains typically end the summer drought period. Ponderosa pine needs bare ground for seeds to sprout. Imagine a dry summer with many natural fire starts Thus, as fires burn the stands, they prepare a seed bed for caused by lightning striking the ground. Depending on the pine. With the absence of fire, Douglas fir, which does the slope position of a fire start, the amount of fuel and not need fire to prepare a seed bed, will invade the stands. moisture conditions, fires can burn for a short while and Fires historically burned often and freely in the go out, or persist for days or months. Wind has a dramatic Bitterroot Valley so the Corps of Discovery saw effect on fire size and intensity, and during a dry period, can ponderosa pine as the area's principal species. Douglas cause a fire to spread, producing a significant burned area. fir was either absent or present only sparingly. Due to At the time the Corps of Discovery passed through frequent fires, the valley had an open or savanna-like the valley, summer fues caused by lightning burned appearance with ponderosa pine, bunch grasses and uncontrolled until rain, winter snow or natural barriers forbs4 as the principal vegetation. suppressed them. Captain William Clark's journal entry on September 7, The impact of an uncontrolled fire was witnessed first 1805, confirms they saw a similar countryside. "The Vallie hand in 1979 about 50 miles southwest of Travelers' Rest from 1 to
14 ~ We Proceeded On November 2007 John Puckett is a graduate of Penn State University in forestry. H e worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 32 years in Idaho and Montana. Prior to retirement, he served as the fuels and fire ecology specialist for the N orthern Region ofthe Forest Service.
Norns ' Gary E. Moulton, ed., The journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, 13 volumes (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001 ), Vol. 5, p. 191. All quotations or references to journal entries in the ensuing text are from Moulton. Lewis's This cross-section of a ponderosa pine tree from the Bitterroot Valley, along with the illustration entry for September 9, 1805. at left, shows that fire sca rring stopped about 1890 when settlement occurred. The illustration 2 was prepared by Dr. James R. Habeck, a retired botany professor. Ibid. 3 James R. Habeck and Robert W Mutch, It appears they were traveling through an area that had "Fire Dependent Forests in the Northern Rocky Mountains," burned several years prior, likely caused by lightning, Journal of Quaternary Research, Vol. 3, No. 3 (October 1973 ), and that the area was being invaded by other plant p. 410. H abeck is retired from the University of Montana in Missoula as a professor of botany. Mutch is retired from species. They had left the area most likely to have been the Northern Forest Fire Laboratory in Missoula as a fire burned by Indians. ecologist. Today in the Bitterroot Valley, fire exclusion has 4 Forbs are non-grass plants. A common forb in this area is given way to succession of the ponderosa pine stands the bitterroot, or Lewisia rediviva, named for Meriwether Lewis after he preserved one at Travelers' Rest on July 2, 1806. by Douglas fir. Litter accumulation, which includes pine Moulton, Vol. 8, p. 80, fn. 3. This forb is common to the valley needles and fallen branches, has increased alongside the and is the state flower of Montana. growth of shrubs and invasive grasses and weeds, making 5 Moulton, Vol. 5, p. 190. Clark's entry for September 7, 1805. it more vulnerable to high-intensity fires. 6 Ibid. Clark's entry for September 8, 1805. Sergeant Patrick Gass referred to the Bitterroot Valley 7 Stephen W. Barrett, Stephen F. Arno and James P. Menakis, as a beautiful plain, 15 but today it is moving closer to a "Fire Episodes in the Inland Northwest (1540-1940)," (October 1997), based on fire history data from the U.S.D.A. dense stand of trees. Forest Service Imermoumain Research Station GTR-370, p. 15. Through a few remaining old-growth trees, forest Barrett is a research cooperator with Systems for Environmental records and oral tribal histories, the viewshed Lewis and Management in Missoula, Montana. Arno is retired from Clark observed on their way to the Pacific Ocean can be the Northern Forest Fire Laboratory in Missoula as a forest ecologist. Menakis is a forester in the Fire Effects Work Unit at visualized in the mind. the Intennountain Fire Science Laboratory in Missoula. Fire has played a pivotal role in shaping the landscape 8 Moulton, Vol. 5, p. 179. Clark's entry for August 31, 1805. of the Bitterroot Valley for thousands of years. The 9 Stephen W. Barrett and Stephen F. Arno, "Indian Fires as vegetation in the lower part of the valley has been an Ecological Influence in the Northern Rockies," journal of modified by man's use of fire, while the more remote Forestry, Vol. 80(October1982), pp. 648-649. areas of the valley have been impacted by natural, 10 Moulton, Vol. 5, p. 187. Clark's entry for September 4, 1805. lightning-caused, fires. 11 Ibid., p. 179. Clark's October 31, 1805. Fire in its natural role, with the aid of Native American 12 Robert Boyd, ed., Fire and Land in the Pacific Northwest burning, created the beautiful plain and prairie described (Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press, 1999). by Gass and Lewis in their journals. During the past From a revision to the paper by Barrett and Arno, "Indian Fires as an Ecological Influence in the Northern Rockies," 200 years, the role of fire has evolved. Today, its use is which was included in Boyd's book. very important in public and private land-management 13 Moulton, Vol. 5, p. 199. Clark's entry for September 11, 1805. decisions. Lewis and Clark's journals, along with fire 14 Ibid., p. 201. history studies and Native American oral histories, may 15 Carol Lynn MacGregor, ed., The journals of Patrick Gass help determine the future role of fire and its impacts on (Missoula, Mont.: Mountain Press Publishing, 1997), pp. 127- the landscape. 128. Gass's entry for September 9, 1805.
November 2007 We Proceeded On~ 15 OF THERMOMETERS AND TEMPERATURES ON THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION
Where and when Lewis obtained thermometers remains a mystery
BY ROBERT R. HUNT
resident Jefferson's instructions to Captain the College of William and Mary, were "making the first Meriwether Lewis regarding his journey to simultaneous meteorological measurements" in North Pexplore the Missouri River and its course with America at Monticello and Williamsburg.3 the waters of the Pacific Ocean included a series of A sampling from Jefferson's correspondence dem "objects worthy of notice," among these was "climate as onstrates the depth of his interest in thermometers and characterised by the thermometer ... " 1 It was a directive climate data. of much personal interest to the president. • June 8, 1778-Jefferson wrote Giovanni Fabbroni The Corps of Discovery's mission called for daily in Italy, suggesting an exchange of thermometric data thermometer readings. As it turned out, readings were between the two countries. He indicated this would taken on just 475 days of the journey, or 42 percent of the provide "a comparative view of the two climates." time. Thermometers appear and disappear throughout the Jefferson added, "I make my daily observations as early captains' journal entries, resulting in a subsequent body as possible in the morning & again about 4 o'clock in the of literature that is filled with assumptions, probabilities, afternoon ... " 4 skepticism and guesswork about them. • November 8, 1783-Jefferson wrote Isaac Zane President Jefferson held a long-term interest in climate in Frederick County, Virginia: "By Colo. Bland who and thermometers. It is likely that he was disappointed is returning to Virginia in a carriage I send you a in the incomplete temperature records.2 The instructions thermometer, the only one to be had in Philadelphia. It he gave Lewis were to satisfy just one element of appears to be a good one." Jefferson asked Zane to make his ongoing interest in and passion for documenting specific temperature observations in a cave, an icehouse, temperatures and weather data. Jefferson had indulged a good spring and a well, and transport the data to him this interest for more than a quarter century before in Philadelphia.5 Lewis embarked on his journey to the West. Historian • February 20, 1784-Jefferson wrote James Madison, James Rodger Fleming noted, for example, that in 1778, later the fourth president of the United States: "I wish Jefferson and the Reverend James Madison, president of you had a thermometer. Mr. Madison of the college
16 - We Proceeded On November 2007 they had "Farenheit's graduation on the right of the one side of the tube and Rfamur's [sic] on the other." They were "to be hung on the outside of a glass window ... to be seen without opening the window." Jones
i.. j • advised that the instruments could easily be ~ t - ~ placed "by fixing 2 perpendicular pieces of wood to the side of your window, and the Thermometer placed against them. "7 • March 11, 1797 - Jefferson corresponded with Thomas Mann Randolph, his son-in-law who lived nearby, to tell him he had ordered him a thermometer from Joseph Gatty, a Philadelphia glassblower who specialized in weather instruments. Jefferson paid $12
·I in June 1797 for two thermometers, one for Randolph and one for himself.8 • January 15, 1800-Jefferson, in Philadelphia, wrote Jonathan Williams to thank him for sending a copy of Williams's published book on thermometrical navigation the previous year. In his letter ! of thanks, Jefferson noted that for some time he had wished he could take a daily temperature reading in the river near his home. "Observations made in the rivers of different states would exhibit one of the good comparative views of climate ... "9 Jefferson's thermometric interests during these early years of the republic were more than a personal scientific hobby. With his colleagues at the American Philosophical Society, he "had a vision of a national meteorological system. "10 Viewed in this perspective, the instructions he gave Lewis are but one component of a national Members of the Corps of Discovery suffered frostbite, snowblindn ess and bitter cold at Fort Mandan as they colle cted meat and conducted the grinding routine of daily chores project. Lewis was thus a "point man" interspersed with extremely rare moments of military action. This painting depicts a in a climatologic scheme of far-reaching scene early on the morning of February 16th, 1805, following an earlier encounter be proportions. tween corps members and more than 100 Sioux. Lewis and Clark made time every day to record the temperature and collect weather data during their time at Fort Mandan THE PHILADELPHIA STORY despite a variety of distractions and activity. Lewis left Washington March 15, 1803, for and myself are keeping observations for a comparison Philadelphia to broaden his scientific skills. He stopped of climate .... If you could observe at the same time it first in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. There he chose arms, would shew [sic] the difference between going North ammunition and other accoutrements for the upcoming and Northwest on this continent. "6 expedition. While there, he also supervised the design and • January 2, 1789-William Jones of London sent testing of prototype sections of a lightweight collapsible, Jefferson two thermometers Jefferson had ordered while iron-framed boat, which he and Jefferson dreamed up the he was in Paris on December 10, 1788. Jones noted that previous year. That endeavor prolonged his stay at the
November 2007 We Proceeded On - 17 national armory by three weeks and he did not arrive in opposition to Jefferson's project, that no mention of it Lancaster, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, witil about appears in any record. April 20, 1803. He explained the cause of his delay to THERMOMETER READINGS Jefferson on that date. During an intensely busy month of study and There is a conspicuous absence of thermometric data procurement in Philadelphia, he finalized his needs and for the period from September 7, 1803, to January accounted in detail for his expenditure of public funds. 3, 1804, at Camp River Dubois. Lewis had dutifully The list of needs included "Three Thermometers." 11 commenced recording temperatures promptly upon Observers have commented that three breakable leaving Pittsburgh. He reported readings on September thermometers would hardly suffice for the duration of 2, 1803 - "Thermometer stood at seventy six in the such an arduous journey. 12 cabbin the temperature of the water in the river when Historians including Donald Jackson and Gary emersed about the same- " 18 -and September 3rd, Moulton conjecture that Lewis obtained at least some 4th, 6th and 7th. Thereafter, no readings appear, with thermometers in Philadelphia. Atmospheric science the single exception of September 16th, until Clark's professor Terrence Nathan, however, acknowledges record on January 3, 1804. Thus, over a four-month that such instruments "do not appear on any list of period, including a break in Lewis's writing between items purchased in Philadelphia or elsewhere. "13 Lewis's September 18 and November 11, there is no record of handling of public funds, as reported in the records any thermometer use. Considering Jefferson's personal available to us through Jackson's references and other interest and precise instructions, this is curious to say sources, is meticulous. An absence of accounting would the least. be highly surprising and prompts uncertainty about Once settled at Camp River Dubois, the captains where and when Lewis acquired thermometers. did take temperature readings, though somewhat There were at least four establishments that offered sporadically during the first month when only 17 were glass thermometers when Lewis was in Philadelphia, recorded. Thereafter, daily readings occur with only a according to Silvio Bedini, a historian specializing in few omissions, until the corps proceeded up the Missouri early American instruments. His list includes one owned River on May 14, 1804, when readings ceased, with one by Joseph Gatty, with whom Jefferson was familiar, and exception, until September 19, 1804. another by John Donegan, 14 a name identified with the Historian Doane Robinson apparently thought that thermometer that Clark experimented with January 3, no thermometer was available during those four months. 1804, at Camp River Dubois.15 Clark's reference to the He asserted that a corps member discovered a misplaced Donegan thermometer is evidence that the instrument thermometer when the crew unloaded the keelboat to came from Philadelphia, but it does not establish that dry and rearrange their baggage that had been drenched Lewis, personally with public funds, made any such following days of heavy rain in mid-September 1804.19 purchase. "16 Donald Jackson declared that he found no support If not in Philadelphia, then where else would Lewis for Robinson's statement that "the explorers discovered have obtained the thermometer(s) used on the Ohio 14 Sept. 1804 a thermometer which had been lost since River September 1, 1803, and at Camp River Dubois the start of the voyage, a loss which had prevented their January 3, 1804? Lewis departed Philadelphia for taking temperature readings until then. "20 Washington in mid-June 1803 for his final instmctions Clark, however, had supervised, prior to the voyage up from Jefferson. At this juncture, Jefferson personally the Missouri River, a thorough packing of all goods and could have provided, not at public expense, the equipment on the keelboat. It is not surprising that some undocumented thermometer(s). Jefferson was astute items would be securely tucked away and not found until at acquiring Philadelphia instruments. Jackson noted months later. Note particularly that daily temperature that Jefferson ordered two thermometers for himself recordings resumed September 19, 1804, after Clark specially packaged, "best on exposure to the weather," shifted stored items following the storm. 21 about a year after his final conference with Lewis. 17 Moulton also disputes the Robinson inference, noting These instruments may have been replacements for that a thermometer was available during the record-keeping thermometers previously entrusted to Lewis. If this hiatus from May 14 to September 19, 1804, as a single were the case, it is not surprising, considering political reading was taken during that period on August 25th. 22
18 - We Proceeded On November 2007 y J F M A M J J A s 0 N D DAYS DAYS E A E A p A u u u E c 0 E TEMP TEMP NOT A p RECORDED R N B R R v N L G T v c RECORDED 1803 5 117 DAYS .. .. RECORDED 5 0 0 0
1804 222 144 DAYS .. RECORDED 17 29 29 29 14 0 0 1 •11 31 30 31 1805 248 117 DAYS .. 31 .. RECOROEO 31 28 31 30 30 31 31 5 0 0 0 1806 - 0 266 DAYS -~ RECORDED -0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
DAYS TEMP 60 59 RECORDED 48 57 45 30 31 32 21 31 30 31 475 ------DAYS TEMP NOT 33 31 48 60 62 61 92 62 60 62 RECORDED 45 28 644 TOTAL EXPEDmON DAYS 93 85 93 90 93 90 93 93 113 93 90 93 1,119
This illustration indicates when temperatures were recorded by Lewis and Clark. The yellow arrows signify periods during which temperatures regularly were recorded. The blue arrows indicate months-long stretches when they were not.
THE SAUGRAIN THEORY Gold Thwaites; and other library and newspaper sources. Scholars writing after the publication of Dye's In 1905, the discussion of the expedition's thermometers book have referred to her account as the basis of support was enlivened during the centennial of the Lewis and for the theory that Saugrain furnished Lewis and Clark Clark Expedition in Portland, Oregon, upon publication with homemade instruments.25 of Eva Emery Dye's book, The Conquest: The True Story of Lewis and Clark. In the chapter on "The Cession of St. A FAMILY TRADITION Louis," Dye depicted Lewis at the home of Dr. Antoine Henry M. Brackenridge, an early traveler to the West, 23 Saugrain , a Frenchman known as the first scientist in added to the Saugrain theory in a personal memoir. the Mississippi Valley and whose daughter later became He wrote of the care given him by the doctor when he William Clark's sister-in-law. suffered from ague in Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1794: "The In Dye's scenario, Saugrain is eager to supply Lewis Doctor had a small apartment which contained his and Clark with badly needed thermometers. He turns to chemical apparatus, and I used to sit by him as often his wife and prepares to dismantle her mirror. as I could, watching the curious operation of his blow "The huge glass, that had reflected Parisian scenes pipe and crucible ... His barometers and thermometers for a generation before coming to the wilds of America, with the scale neatly painted with the pen and the frames was now lifted from its gilt frame and every particle of richly carved were objects of wonder ... "26 quicksilver carefully scraped from the back. Then the In his personal memoirs, Persimmon Hill, William pier plate was shattered and the fragments gathered, bit Clark Kennerly remembered the resourcefulness of by bit, into the Doctor's mysterious crucible ... "24 his grandfather, Antoine Saugrain, "even scraping the Readers seeking authority for this narrative were mercury off the back of Mme Saugrain's pier glass ... in referred to the preface of the book. Dye acknowledged order to finish in time the thermometers and barometers obligation to many people for the authenticity of scenes he made for those two great explorers ... "27 Kennerly was in the novel, including the families of Lewis, Clark and the son of James Kennerly (the brother of William Clark's Saugrain; scholar and expedition journal editor Reuben second wife, Harriet Kennerly Radford Clark) and Elise
November 2007 We Proceeded On - 19 pursued every possible lead in newspapers, conducted interviews with interested scholars, and explored family traditions, as well as Dye's correspondence. Meany determined that "family tradition abundant and persistent through three generations must be largely depended upon in lieu of the scant written or printed contemporaneous records" and that "Dr. Saugrain did supply the Lewis and Clark Expedition with a home made thermometer, some experimental Lucifer matches and perhaps medicine. "31 It is, of course, possible that Dye fabricated the vivid scene of Saugrain scraping his wife's mirror. For some, the story reads like a serio-comic scenario from a nineteenth-century opera. Yet, it provoked enough curiosity to enlist scholarly attention from no less a figure than Reuben Gold Thwaites, who at the time was engaged in producing his edition of the Lewis and Clark journals. Thwaites once said, in tribute to D ye, that she "has contributed most liberally from the surprisingly rich story of historical materials which, with remarkable enterprise and perseverance, she has accumulated Dr. Antoine Saugrain helped organize and le ad a group of em igres from Paris, across the Atlantic Ocean, to establish a settlement at during her preparation for the writing of The Conquest; Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1790. From there he moved to Lexington, Kentucky, her persistent helpfulness has placed the Editor [i.e. and later, St. Louis. He had achieved status in the sci entific and medi 32 ca l communities of St. Louis by the time he met Meriwether Lewis. Thwaites] under unusual obligations." Eva Emery Dye, in her book The Conquest, was the first to suggest It is certain that Dye relied heavily on her sources, that Saugrain made a thermometer for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. particularly grandsons of William Clark and their widows, documents and family traditions and Marie Saugrain Kennerly, which provided an intimate descendants of Saugrain. Meany considered that "the connection between the Clark and Saugrain families. absence of [specific] citations to her authorities is Kennerly wrote that when the captains returned to St. undoubtedly the main reason why her book was not Louis at the end of their journey, "You can be sure they taken more seriously by subsequent writers."33 made a call on Dr. Saugrain for he was anxious to hear In correspondence with Meany, D ye acknowledged what good use was made of the scientmc instruments he this lack of citations, stating, "The Saugrain matter was had furnished for the expedition." 28 He noted that Dye found in the libraries and historical collections of St. had conferred with him as a source for her novel. Louis and in newspaper accounts of Dr. Saugrain. "34 D r. Eldon G. Chuinard insisted that "the handing SKEPTICS down of tradition through such reliable resources cannot be discounted ... "29 He offered additional support for Jackson and Moulton, foremost amongst Lewis and the theory that Saugrain supplied the explorers with Clark scholars, did not find the Sau grain theory credible. thermometers: "In view of the well-established fact Jackson believed it "not likely" that Saugrain made that Dr. Saugrain had been making thermometers and thermometers for the explorers35 and Gary Moulton barometers at Gallipolis a decade earlier, it is reasonable believed the Saugrain theory was "probably untrue."36 to expect he provided Lewis and Clark with additional The author of this essay, however, prefers to consider thermometers ... "30 the story as undocumented rather than necessarily Chuinard also called attention to an intensive analysis "untrue." The single temperature reading on Aug. 25, of the Saugrain tradition by Edmond Meany, a well 1804, does not rule out the possibility that an additional known history professor at the University of Washington. thermometer could have been discovered in storage Meany's work is perhaps the most objective critique of following the storm. the entire mystery surrounding the thermometers. He The experiments described in Lewis's weather
20 - We Proceeded On November 2007 documented and rests on conjecture. The Saugrain theory, although undocumented, is based on recurrent family tradition. Meanwhile, as time passed, the saga of the Corps of Discovery assumed the proportions of a national epic. Epic stories invariably are enhanced, as has occurred with the account of Saugrain's Parisian mirror being converted into glass-blown tubes filled with mercury. Whether truth or myth, the theory nevertheless persists-a tradition not to be casually set aside.
These thermometers from Thomas Foundation member Robert Hunt is a longtime contributor Jefferson's collection confirm his interest in recording weather data. Thomas Jefferson to WPO. His last article, "Peripatetic Captains," appeared in Foundation records indicate the wall ther the May 2007 issue. He lives in Seattle, Washington. mometer on the left was made by Jones & Son/Holbern in London, and obtained by NOTES Jefferson in 1789. It is 19 inches tall by 2 J4 inches wide. No information is available on 1 Donald Jackson, ed., Letters ofthe Lewis and Clark Expedition Jefferson's pocket thermometer. with Related Documents, 1783-1854, second edition, 1978 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1968), VoL 1, p. 63. diary37 concerning his notes of reference for January 2 Terrence R. Nathan detailed the Corps of Discovery's 1804 revealed that he found errors in the Fahrenheit climatologic records of the expedition in the November 2005 issue of WPO. He characterized Jefferson as "arguably the most thermometer of 11 degrees below the actual temperature. knowledgeable meteorologist of his day" in a discussion about (Clark noted a difference of eight degrees.) It is curious the information he wanted Lewis and Clark to record. Nathan that such imprecision could be found in a thermometer wrote that the result was a significant part of "Lewis and made by an expert vendor from Philadelphia. This Clark's Meteorological Legacy." Terrence R. Nathan, "O! How Horriable is the Day," We Proceeded On (November 2005), pp. questionable reliability argues in favor of a homemade 10 and 17. For a careful review of the scientific value of Lewis instrument, pointing to a Saugrain thermometer. Lewis's and Clark's data, the reader should refer to Nathan's article. experiment wasn't necessarily conducted with the For another summary, refer to Susan Solomon and John S. Daniel, "Lewis and Clark: Pioneering Meterological Observers Donegan Philadelphia instrument mentioned by Clark in the American West," Bulletin of the American Meterological on January 3, 1804, though Moulton states that Clark's Society, Vol. 85, Issue 9 (September 2004), p. 1273. mention of this thermometer dispels the theory that 3 James Rodger Fleming, Meteorology in America, 1800- Saugrain made thermometers for Lewis and Clark.38 1870 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), p. For some readers, the reference to "Ferenheit" in 9. Reverend James Madison was a second cousin of James 39 Madison, the fourth president of the United States. He served Lewis's "Remarks on the Thermometer" may not as a professor at the College of William and Mary, and later as support a maker of French origin such as Saugrain. college president, from 1777 until his death in 1812. Benjamin Franklin noted in 1786, "The French use ~Julian P. Boyd, ed., The Papers ofThomas Jefferson, (Princeton: Reaumur's, the English Fahrenheit's."40 Saugrain had Princeton University Press, 1950), Vol. 2, pp. 194-197. visited Franklin several times and they must have s Julian P. Boyd, ed., The Papers ofThomas Jefferson, (Princeton: discussed Franklin's own formula for calculating Princeton University Press, 1951), Vol. 6, p. 347. equivalent readings between the two temperature scales. 6 Ibid., p. 545. Further, Saugrain had been selling instruments to 7 Julian P. Boyd, ed., The Papers ofThomas Jefferson, (Princeton: Americans in the Ohio valley region a decade before Princeton University Press, 1958), Vol. 14, p. 411. Lewis and Clark arrived in the area. His buyers would 8 Barbara B. Oberg, ed., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, have preferred the Anglo-American Fahrenheit scale. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), Vol. 29. p. 316, n. 9 In other words, a Saugrain thermometer could qualify Barbara B. Oberg, ed., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004), Vol. 31., p. 308. just as well as the Donegan instrument for Lewis's error Williams was elected to the American Philosophical Society testing experiment. in 1787 as a result of his observations on temperature and Thus, to summarize concerning the thermometer's barometrical readings. provenance, the Philadelphia theory cannot be 10 Fleming, p. 10.
November 2007 We Proceeded On - 21 11 Jackson, Vol. 1, p. 69. 12 Eldon G. Chuinard, Only One Man Died: The Medical Aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Fairfield, Wash.: Ye Galleon Press, 1979), p. 204. Chuinard was a founder of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. 13 Nathan, p. 18, n. 8.
H Silvio A. Bedini, Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers (Washington, D.C.: Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Institution, 1964), U.S. National Museum Bulletin 231, pp. 33, 156, 164 and 166. 15 Gary E. Moulton, ed., The journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, 13 volumes (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001), Vol. 2, p. 145. Clark's entry for January 3, 1804.
1 6 Ibid., pp. 146-147, n. 1. 17 Jackson, Vol. 1, p. 75, n. 1. 18 Moulton, Vol. 2, p. 69. Lewis's entry for September 2, 1803. 19 Doane Robinson, "Lewis and Clark in South Dakota," South Dakota Historical Collections 9, (1918), p. 557 20 Jackson, Vol. 1, p. 75, n. 1. 21 Moulton, Vol. 3, pp. 130-131; also p. 132, n. 1. 22 Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 9 and p. 13, n. 12. 23 Antoine Saugrain was born of a distinguished royalist family in Paris in 1763, where he was educated in physics, chemistry, mineralogy and medicine. In the early 1780s, he engaged in mineralogy research in Mexico in the service of Spain. In the 1790s, he moved his wife, Rosalie Genevieve Michaud, and family to Lexington, Kentucky, where he practiced as a physician, continued chemical and mineralogy research, and fabricated and sold thermometers and barometers. In December 1797, he was attracted to St. Louis and agreed, after a grant of acreage, to establish there. H e arrived in 1800, the Eva Emery Dye's account of Dr. Anto ine Saugrain making thermom only physician in the area and became known historically as eters for Meriwether Lewis in his home appea red in The Conquest, a civic leader in the community. Saugrain had achieved unique published in 1948. status, scientifically and medically, by the time Lewis and 28 Clark arrived in the area. He was available as a resource for the Ibid, p. 17. captains, who needed all the help they could get in specialties 29 Chuinard, p. 202. Saugrain could provide. Antoine Francois Saugrain de Vigny, 3° Chuinard, p. 204. 1783-1821, L'Odysee Americaine d'une Famille Francaise par le 31 docteur Antoine Saugrain, etude suivie de manuscripts inedits Edmond S. Meany, "Dr. Saugrain Helped Lewis and Clark," et de la correspondance de Sophie Michau Robinson, par H. The Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. 22 (October 1931), Foure Selter (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1936). pp. 300-305 and 311. 32 Ibid., p. 302. H Eva Emery Dye, The Conquest: The True Story of Lewis and Clark (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Company, 1902), pp. 11 Ibid., pp. 304-305. 157-158. 34 Ibid. 25 Robinson, p. 557; John Bakeless, Lewis & Clark, Partners in 35 1, 1. Discovery (New York: William Morrow & Company, 1947), p. Jackson, Vol. p. 75, n. 110; and Drake Will, "L & C: Westering Physicians," Montana 36 Moulton., Vol. 2, pp. 243-244, n. 9. Magazine of Western History, Vol. xxi, No. 4 (Autumn 1971), 37 Ibid., pp. 168-172, with particular emphasis on pp. 169 and P· 9. 172,n. 4. 26 L'Odysee Americaine, pp. 24-29. Brackenridge is quoted at 38 Ibid., pp. 145-147, including n. 1. length, referencing "papers concerning Gallipolis belonging to the Cincinnati Historical Society." 39 Ibid., Vol. 2, pp. 168-172. 27 William Clark Kennerly as told to Elizabeth Russell, Persimmon 40 Leonard W. Labaree, ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin Hill, A Narrative of Old St. Louis and the Far West (Norman: (New Haven: Yale University Press, copyright 1959 by the University of Oklahoma Press, 1949), pp. 5, 17, 21and141. American Philosophical Society), Vol. 11 , pp. 281-282.
22 - We Proceeded O n November 2007 Dispatches Foundation elects board of directors and selects slate of officers for 2007-08
he Foundation's board of directors served as chairwoman of the Amelia Telected its officers for 2007-2008 Earhart Festival in Atchison for the at the organization's 39th annual past 11 years. meeting in Charlottesville in August. Seaberg has a bachelor's degree in Four individuals assumed new roles English with an emphasis in ancient as of October 1 and will hold those and medieval literature. positions for a year. Additionally, James Brooke of Colorado four people were elected to fill vacant Springs, Colorado, is the foundation's positions on the president elect. He has served on the board of directors board since 2005 and is chairman of and two were re the organization's Third Century elected to the board. Campaign. Treasurer Clay Smith volunteers in the Their terms begin Brooke completed 20 years of na foundation's William P. Sherman Library and October 1 and vary val service as a Navy pilot in 1991, and Archives. in length from one since that time has worked in the aero projects about Native American to three years. space industry overseeing engineering tribes, specifically the tribes located Karen Seaberg of programs both in in Kansas. He also promotes and Atchison, Kansas, Seaberg the United States supports the Native American arts is the foundation's new president. She and abroad. He industry in Kansas. He serves as the has served on the foundation's board recently served as Kansas Arts Commission's liaison of directors since 2003 and previously senior director of to the four resident tribes of Kansas: was chairwoman of the organization's Space and Strate the Prairie Band Potawatomi, the Governance Committee. She is a gic Operations for Iowa Tribe of Kansas, the Sac and Fox travel consultant at the Travel Center ARINC Engineer Nation of Missouri and the Kickapoo of Atchison, and co-owner of Long ing Services over- Tribe of Kansas. He is a graduate of John Silvers of Atchison. She is on the seeing the program Brooke Emporia State University in Emporia, managing Executive Committee of the peiformance, fi- Kansas. River House Restaurant in Atchison. nances and operations for 150 people Clay Smith of Great Falls, Montana, Seaberg was chairwoman of in 13 locations throughout the west was elected to serve a second year as the Atchison Lewis and Clark ern United States. He received his treasurer of the foundation. Smith is Bicentennial Committee and served bachelor's degree from Virginia Poly a past president of the Portage Route on the Executive Committee for technic Institute and holds a Ph.D. in Chapter, and past chairman of the the "Heart of America: A Journey U.S. diplomatic history and national foundation's Investments/Finance/ Fourth" Bicentennial Signature security affairs from Tufts University. Audit Committee. He retired as a Lt. Event. She served as chairwoman of Brooke has lived in Colorado Springs Col. from the U.S. Air Force in 1984 the Governor's Kansas Lewis and for more than seven years. after serving 22 years. He worked Clark Bicentennial Commission and Chris Howell of Topeka, Kansas, as vice president for enrollment, represented Kansas on the National was elected vice president. He has management and student services Council for the Lewis and Clark served on the board since 2005 and at Saint Martin's College in Lacey, Bicentennial's Circle of State Advisors 1s chairman of Washington, for seven years before for four years. the foundation's taking the same position at the Her long involvement in her Diversity Advisory University of Great Falls in 1998. He local community includes being a Committee. He retired in 2002. charter member and president of is deputy director Larry McClure Theatre Atchison as well as service and chief financial of Tualatin, Oregon, on the Atchison Area Chamber of officer of the Kansas will serve as secretary Commerce, the Tourism Council, Arts Commission. of the foundation. the Riverbend Regional Healthcare He works to He was elected to the Board, the Atchison Hospital Howell promote historically board in 2006 and Board and the Atchison Riveifront and culturally accurate education serves as chairman Development Committee. She has and arts education programs and of the organization's McClure
November 2007 We Proceeded On - 23 Dispatches (cont)
Education Committee. McClure, a Scouts of America executive board ment. He serves on the foundation's retired educator, joined the foundation and as vice president of properties for Eastern Legacy Committee. Williams in 1998. He is particularly interested in the organization. He has a bachelor's has a bachelor's degree from the Uni how schools can incorporate the Lewis degree in economics from Missouri versity of Northern Iowa. and Clark story into learning activities Valley College. Buckley is an assistant professor and has promoted teacher awareness Yeager, from Floyds Knobs, Indi of history and director of the Native as a member of the Oregon Chapter's ana, served three years on the founda American Studies program at Brigham board of directors and on behalf of the tion's Executive Committee as secre Young University. foundation. He volunteers as director tary and was re-elected to a three-year He has a Ph.D. in of the Tualatin Heritage Center in his term on the board. She also served as history from the hometown. secretary of the National Council for University of Ne After nearly two years as founda the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial and braska at Lincoln, tion president, Jim Gramentine will was co-chairwoman of the council's and master's and serve a year on the Legacy Forward bachelor's degrees Executive Commit Committee. Yeager m history from tee of the board as served on the Lo Brigham Young Uni- past president. The cust Grove Lewis versity. He worked Buckley early resignation of and Clark Commit as an editorial assistant for the Cen Patti Thomsen as tee for its Lewis and ter for Great Plains Studies and com president in January Clark Homecom pleted his Ph.D. under the direction 2006 led Gramen ing, the executive of Lewis and Clark historian Gary E. tine to assume the board of the Falls Moulton. Buckley's monograph, Wil Gramentine role of president of the Ohio Lewis liam Clark, Indian Diplomat, will be nine months early. He graciously ac and Clark Bicentennial Committee released this winter. He co-authored cepted the nomination to serve a sec and is a two-time past president of the By His Own Hand? The Mysterious ond term. Clark-Floyd Counties Convention Death of Meriwether Lewis and has The six elected members of the and Tourism Bureau. She has a bach published numerous articles on vari board of directors are Jim Mallory, elor's degree in elementary education ous aspects of the Lewis and Clark Phyllis Yeager, Jay Buckley, Margaret from Montana State University and Expedition. Buckley has served on the Gorski, Dick Williams and Jane taught school in Anchorage, Alaska. fo undation's Archives Committee and Randol Jackson. She has owned and operated several has a solid working knowledge of the Mallory, a resident of Lexington, businesses with her husband. collections in the foundation's Wil Kentucky, completed his first three Williams of Omaha, Nebraska, was liam P. Sherman Library and Archives. year term on the board of directors elected to a three-year term on the He was the Portage Route Chapter's and will continue to serve through board. He served as manager of the Scholar-in-Residence in 2004. He will September 2010. He is chairman of the Lewis and Clark National Historic serve a two-year term. foundation's Eastern Trail for the National Park Service Gorski is the tourism and interpre Legacy Committee, from 1991 to 2006 and is now retired. tation program leader for the U.S.D.A. whose primary pur He worked to develop Park Service Forest Service's Northern Region. She pose is to work with partnerships and managed the Chal lives in Stevensville, Congress to extend lenge Cost Share Montana. She has the Lewis and Clark program. Williams worked for nearly National Historic was involved in 30 years in various Trail east, to include much of the nation assignments in three the preparatory and al planning for the national forests and Mallory return routes of bicentennial and the three national parks Lewis and Clark. Mallory is a retired Park Service's Corps in the West. Gor business executive who worked as a of Discovery II proj ski has worked as Gorski corporate account executive and in in ect. He also worked a district ranger, on Williams vestment real estate. He served on the for the Park Service district recreation staff, as a recre Kentucky Lewis and Clark Bicenten as a park ranger and program manager ation planner, as a landscape architect nial Commission and is a past presi in areas including Yellowstone, Joshua and a seasonal national park ranger dent of the Ohio River Chapter. He Tree, Big Horn Canyon, Cape Look naturalist. Many foundation members served on the Bluegrass Council Boy out and Homestead National Mom1- know Gorski best for work she did
24 - We Proceeded On November 2007 L&C Roundup in her previous position as the Forest Service's Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Development proposed at arch: Extension legislation national field coordinator. For eight years she directed the agency's strategic n late August, City of St. Louis federal officials, Park Service staff, planning for and involvement in the bi Iofficials announced a plan to revamp advocacy groups and the general centennial. She has a master's degree in the city's riverfront by obtaining a public across the country. The plan landscape architecture from the Uni portion of the Jefferson National already has garnered the support versity of California at Berkeley and Expansion Memorial from the of U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill a bachelor's degree in forest resources National Park Service. of Missouri. Senator Kit Bond and outdoor recreation from the Univer The Park Service owns 91 acres U .S. Representatives William Lacy sity of Washington. She will serve a that include the arch, an underground Clay and Russ Carnahan have stated two-year term. museum, park grounds and the that the plan needs more review and Jane Randol Jackson of Cape Gi Old Courthouse. City officials are extensive public comment. Robert rardeau, Missouri, was elected to serve interested in the northern and southern Archibald, president of the Missouri a one-year term on the board. She is thirds of the park, but acknowledge the Historical Society, and Peter Raven, the director of the Cape Girardeau center, which includes the arch, should director of the Missouri Botanical County Archive Center, and serves not be included in their plan. St. Louis Garden, have been tapped by the city as chairwoman and docent at the Red Mayor Francis Slay and former U.S. to prepare a road map for community House Interpretive Center in Cape Senator John Danforth are among the input and planning. Girardeau. She is the founder and project's most vocal proponents. Slay The Park Service does not take an president of the foundation's Cape has likened the project to Chicago's official position on pending legislation Girardeau Chapter. Jackson is chair newly developed Millennium Park until a congressional hearing, but woman of a working along Lake Michigan, which opened Peggy O'Dell, former superintendent committee to estab in 2004 with a music pavilion, skating of the Jefferson National Expansion lish the Missouri rink and bicycle rentals. Slay said that Memorial, said the arch grounds are Lewis and Clark among the general possibilities they part of the memorial and were designed Network, which re are considering in St. Louis are an very specifically to complement the places the Missouri amphitheater, cafes and restaurants, structure of the arch. Bicentennial Com fountains, bicycle rentals, sculptures People interested in submitting mission. She planned and an aquarium. comments on the potential develop Jackson and conducted two That would be a departure from the ment should contact members of Grampa Woo cruises original idea of a wide-open riverfront Missouri's congressional delegation. at the close of the bicentennial. She memorial to Thomas Jefferson that has a master's degree in French from dates back to 1933. Areas of interest Trail study legislation introduced Middlebury College and a bachelor's for commercial development include Bills have been introduced in the degree in education from Southeast the sites of the McNair House to the U.S. House and Senate calling for a Missouri State University. south of the arch (where Meriwether study to determine the feasibility and The foundation's 15-member board Lewis rented in 1808 and later William suitability of extending the Lewis and meets in person three times a year. In and Julia Clark lived), and to the Clark National Historic Trail east to 2008, they will meet January 26th in north, William Clark's 1818 home and include Lewis and Clark's preparatory Denver, Colorado; May 10th in Kan museum. Development potentially and return routes. sas City, Missouri; and August 9th in could spoil Jefferson National U.S. Senator Jim Bunning of Great Falls, Montana. Expansion Memorial's plans to place Kentucky introduced S. 1991 and the Also serving on the board are Ste wayside exhibits at key points for the bill currently has one co-sponsor. U.S. phenie Ambrose Tubbs of Helena, sites of historic structures, as well as Representative Jo Ann Emerson of Montana, who has one year remain iPod and GPS-driven programs that Missouri, and 13 original co-sponsors, ing in her first term, and Bill Stevens would provide background information have introduced H.R. 3616. For text of Pierre, South Dakota, and Peyton on the sites for walking tours. of the legislation and information "Bud" Clark of Dearborn, Michigan, Development would require an act on the status of the bills, visit http: who both have two years remaining in of Congress, along with broad political //thomas.loc.gov. Please consider their first terms. and public support. Removing land contacting your delegation to urge Nominations for next year's elec from the National Park Service would their support and ask them to sign on tions are due by November 30, 2007. be an unprecedented move, and as co-sponsors of the legislation. - Wendy Raney therefore will attract the attention of - Wendy Raney
November 2007 We Proceeded O n ~ 25 Dispatches (cont) Foundation honors outstanding achievements and contributions at 39th meeting
he foundation recognized the The Confluence in Schools Project Tsignificant contributions of two is a combination of scholarship, art, individuals and three groups of people education, youth and the landscape. at its annual meeting in Charlottesville, The project comes together in the Virginia, in August. stories told by and about the Corps of Francis McQ. Lawrence, an Discovery. It honors the confluences of attorney from Charlottesville, trails, rivers and cultures. The project Virginia, and Kira Gale of Omaha, provided funding and expertise for Nebraska, received the foundation's teachers who brought the story of the Meritorious Achievement Award, corps and the tribes it met back to their given to a person, organization or schools, where students developed agency for scholarly research or other art-based educational projects for significant contributions that bring to their schools and communities. the nation a greater appreciation and Students told the expedition's stories awareness of the Lewis and Clark in their own unique ways, designing Expedition. and building trails and interpretive Lawrence took the lead m markers, creating sculptures, planting construction of Charlottesville's native gardens and publishing books. replica keelboat and the Lewis and The project involves 13 school Clark Exploratory Center. Captains districts, 29 schools and 5,086 Meriwether Lewis and William students in Washington and Oregon. Clark would find a kindred spirit in Project assistance is provided by 864 Lawrence, whose passion is building Francis Mell. Lawrence community mentors, 278 partner anything from trails to boats to groups, and 80 tribal leaders, artists relationships. Along the way, he has Chapter and during the bicentennial, and storytellers. The Confluence in been a boat builder, leader, diplomat Gale led the chapter's efforts to name Schools Project speaks to all of us and fundraiser. Lawrence has done the city's riverfront park "Lewis who keep the story, steward the trail it all, from wielding a hammer to and Clark Landing." She is a tireless and look to our youth to do the same build the keelboat to providing legal advocate for the trail, supporting for the next 100 years. advice and leadership for the center. interpretive markers, interpretive The Discovery Expedition of He negotiated with local government trails and public access along the trail St. Charles was fortunate to recruit agencies for a place to build the center in the Omaha area. Her most recent four young men to participate in and led the fund-raising effort for this accomplishment was publishing a its reenactment of the Corps of exciting, interactive, hands-on project. comprehensive trail guide, Lewis and Discovery's journey. Derek Biddle of He provided the community and the Clark Road Trips, and posting an center with the kind of leadership interactive Website, www.lewisand Lewis and Clark would admire. clarktravel.com, which have received Gale has combined her passion for accolades from the trail community. the Lewis and Clark National Historic The foundation honored the Trail with her love of the stories of Confluence in Schools Project of the Corps of Discovery, making Washington and Oregon and four both accessible to people living members of the Discovery Expedition along the Platte and Missouri rivers. of St. Charles with its Youth She is the ultimate Lewis and Clark Achievement Award, which is given enthusiast. In much the same way to a person or group of people under President Thomas Jefferson promoted age 21 who have increased public scholarship and conversation, Gale knowledge of the Lewis and Clark has encouraged both in the Omaha Expedition through outstanding area through ongoing lecture series, composition, art, drama, photography, dinner meetings and study groups. She site preservation and enhancement or established the Mouth of the Platte other significant contribution. Kira Gale
26 ~ We Proceeded On November 2007 support (in deed, exemplary or distinguished service to word or funds) of the or promotion of the foundation on a foundation in its en state, local or national level; and/ or deavorto preserve and has demonstrated or accomplished an perpetuate the lasting activity of merit that benefits its mem historical worth of bers, their community and the mission the Lewis and Clark of the foundation. Expedition. The bri Youth Achievement Award gade travels the trail To a person or group of people under in western Montana, age 21 who have increased knowledge sharing the stories of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of the Corps of Dis through outstanding composition, art, Confluence in Schools Project covery with state and drama, photography, site preservation federal park visitors, and enhancement or other significant Rocheport, Missouri; Josh Loftis of school children, adults and those who contribution. Lake Ozark, Missouri;}esse Murphy of gathered to commemorate the bicen Appreciation Award Billings, Montana; and Alec Weltzien tennial of the Lewis and Clark Expe To a person or organization for of Dillon, Montana, postponed their dition from 2003-2006. gracious support (in deed, word or personal plans to volunteer for the Brigade members are: Norm Allen, funds) given to the foundation and its Discovery Expedition of St. Charles. Scott Cameron, Vicki Correia, Ritchie endeavor to preserve and perpetuate Doyle, Ted Hoglund, George Knapp, the lasting historical worth of Tom Leonard, Tom Lukomski, Bob the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Schmidt, Chuck Sundstrom, Bruce This is your chance to provide Truett, Mike Wallace, Jacqueline Wal special recognition to someone who lace, Jennifer Wallace, Harvey "Hoot" has made significant contributions to Gibson and Francis Weigand. our national community and whose Each year our foundation strives efforts have increased awareness, to identify and recognize individuals, knowledge and appreciation of the groups and organizations who have Lewis and Clark Expedition. made significant contributions to our Please take the time to think Discovery Expedition of St. Charles mission as keepers of the story and about those who deserve recognition, Each young man took time to read stewards of the trail. We have five encourage others to do the same and expedition members' journals, listen to award categories: submit a nomination. Nomination the accounts of tribal elders and study Meritorious Achievement Award forms may be downloaded from with scholars. To a person, organization, or agen the foundation's Website. If you In their roles with the Discovery cy for scholarly research or other have questions, contact Ken Jutzi Expedition, they passed these stories significant contributions that bring at [email protected] or (805) on to thousands of visitors along the to the nation a greater appreciation 444-3236. Nominations must be trail and at bicentennial events. Their and awareness of the Lewis and Clark postmarked by May 1, 2008, to be clothing and equipment reflect their Expedition. considered. scholarship and their determination Distinguished -Awards Committee to be historically accurate. Their ages Service Award were the same as many of the original To a foundation expedition members, and like those member who has young men, the award recipients kept made an outstand journals of their own journey. All this, ing contribution --~r"l--~.\J combined with their willingness to toward furthering proceed on, truly sets them apart as the purpose and keepers of the story, stewards of the objectives of the trail. foundation. The foundation honored the Trav Chapter Award elers' Rest Chapter Brigade with its To a chapter in Appreciation Award, which is given to good standing a person or organization for gracious that has shown Travelers' Rest Chapter Brigade
November 2007 We Proceeded On ~ 27 r
Reviews Journals provide insight into trade at Fort Osage and Jefferson's factory system
regions, among them: Manuel Lisa, of the Treaty of 1808. Sibley appears at Seeking a Newer World: The Fort the Chouteau family, and botanists times to be standing up for the Osage, Osage Journals and Letters of Thomas Nuttall, John Bradbury and but not so much as to challenge the George Sibley 1808-1811 Nathan Boone. Superintendent of notion of the factory system. He notes Indian Affairs William Clark figures of the treaty provisions the necessity Jeffrey E. Smi th, ed. in these journals as does Meriwether to "perform with the most minute Lewis, governor of the Louisiana exactness every promise made to Lindenwood University Press Territory, who wrote that he favored the Indians by any of its authorized 220 pages I $12.95 withholding merchandise from the Agents, and of cow·se to use the Indians as a superior policy to the greatest caution in making promises." "chastisement of the sword." The His observations are often wry eeking a Newer World; The Fort problem, Sibley later recognized, was and reflect the sensibilities of a man SOsage journals and Letters of that as the Indians killed more game for who took his job and his honor very George Sibley 1808-1811, edited with seriously. When faced with settling an introduction by Jeffrey Smith, accounts between a man whose hogs offers a unique view of what it was had gotten lost and the men who like to be the man implementing found them, Sibley wrote, "It lays at Thomas Jefferson's factory system on the doors of the wolves, the Indian the frontlines. Under that policy, the Dogs, the Indian and the Soldiers, but United States acquired land cessions they Shift it from one to the other, from Indian tribes in return for and all deny it except the Wolves and providing protection from other tribes Dogs, who are the most honorable of and access to markets and material them all in this matter, and I suspect goods. Smith states in his preface, the least culpable." "The factory system pursued the As the tensions with Great parallel goals of controlling the Native Britain mounted, and the ranks of Americans through commercial independent trappers took over, rewards and punishments along with the frontier outpost known as Fort attempting to civilize them." The Osage was evacuated and shut down idea was to encourage the indigenous for a time. Sibley eventually returned people to give up the "savage" with his new wife, but as the factory lifestyle of hunting and gathering for system faded and the rendezvous a "civilized" life of farming and candle system took its place, he moved on making. to run a finishing school for girls in As the son of Indian agent Dr. furs to trade at the factory, the game Saint Charles. How peaceful that John Sibley, and having served as an became "very sensibly" diminished occupation must have been for Sibley assistant factor at Fort Belle Fontaine, and the once proud Osage became compared with the responsibilities of George Sibley knew how to walk the "more and more dependent upon the being a frontier fort "factor." Smith's fine, if not impossible, line of keeping Traders, and consequently more and explanatory notes and biographical the Indians and settlers safe and happy, more debased and degraded." (Letter details fill in the story and paint a maintaining an accurate account of from Sibley to Thomas L. McKenney, complete picture of George Sibley's goods and services, and ensuring the October 1, 1820.) life during his time at Fort O sage. land cessions and annuity payments From the correspondence included He was, as one biographer phrased were in order. The newly constructed in this book, one gets the impression it, "a man caught up in the life of a Fort O sage was essentially a last stop that George Sibley very much wanted developing country while still wedded for travelers headed west, and trade to please William Clark, who had to a frontier institution which was flourished under Sibley's leadership. handpicked the fort's location in 1808, passing away." His account is a matter-of-fact record as much as he wanted to facilitate the The reconstructed fort is located in peppered with references to the opening of the West with the least Sibley, Missouri, and was designated a personages who passed through on amount of violence and disruption, National Historic Landmark in 1961 . their way to the upper Missouri River and in accordance with the provisions -Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs
28 ~ We Proceeded On November 2007 Short biography compliments existing work on expedition hunter and interpreter
annoying and probably in Bon Appetit! - AND - The life & accurate. Like the author, I Times of George P. Drouillard also am a George Drouillard Lewis and Clark's Shawnee Hunter reenactor. After a perfor and Interpreter mance for 50 members of the Drouillard family in Maumee, Richard M. Gaffney Ohio, the family presented me with a copy of the Drouillard AmhmHouse I l5 pages I $17.87 family archives. In these well-researched documents they list uthor Richard M. Gaffney earned Drouillard's name as "Pierre Ahis bachelor's and master's degrees George Drouillard," born m history from the University circa September 27, 1775, on of Maine. He has been active as a the south coast of Detroit, historical reenactor for more than to Asoundechris Flathead three decades portraying soldiers from and Pierre Drouillard, of the Revolutionary War period and, ficial interpreter to the more recently, George Drouillard of Hurons for the British Indian the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Department. Other French Bon Appetit! - AND - The Life names in the archives re & Times of George P. Drouillard main in French spellings, but offers an odd juxtaposition of two "George" clearly is spelled in slightly related topics under one the English version. cover as a two-part book. Part I is On pages 84, 86, 88 and 90, subtitled "Shawnee Hunter Georges Gaffney presents photocopies [sic] Drouillard's List of Fine Dining of various legal documents Establishments along the Lewis and signed by George Drouillard. In pages of Skarston's work, or the 466 Clark Trail, as of A.D. 1806." The each case it appears that Drouillard pages of Thom's novel, Gaffney's author explains that there were no fine signed his first name as "George." The book is relegated to a supplement to dining establishments along the trail in two primary biographies of George previous biographies. 1806, but he discovered several during Drouillard, George Drouillard H unter The strength of the book is that his travels in 2006. Following this and Interpreter for Lewis & Clark, it provides insight into some Lewis explanation, he recommends dining by Malvin Olai (M.O.) Skarston, and and Clark historical sites in central in eight eateries near the Lewis and historical novel, Sign-Talker, by Jam es and eastern Missouri, plus it includes Clark National Historic Trail. Five of Alexander Thom, both provide several four pages of bibliography that the places are located in Jefferson City, documents and a personal letter signed would be a valuable resource to any Missouri, and three more are upriver, by "George Drouillard." researcher. Unlike Skarston and within a 60-mile radius of Jefferson Of the 41 pages of Part II, 11 are Thom, who transcribed the various City. H e invites the reader to record filled with illustrations, photos and legal documents regarding Drouillard, their own restaurant discoveries in the maps. H alf of the remaining 30 pages Gaffney provides photocopies of 35 blank, or nearly blank, pages of the provide interesting information on the the originals with transcriptions. I 54 pages that comprise Part I of the Shawnees, Shawnee Chief Kishkalwa, recommend this book to anyone book. Louis Lorimer (believed to be who enjoys the articles in WP O, die In Part II, Gaffney provides Drouillard's uncle) of Cape Girardeau, hard George Drouillard fans such as many interesting biographical notes Missouri, the Louisiana Purchase, myself, people interested in the history on Drouillard and his father, Pierre Native American migration, George of Missouri and Cape Girardeau, and, Drouillard. H owever, Gaffney uses Rogers Clark and anecdotal bits of of course, to people looking for some the French spelling of George's name, American history. That leaves about darn fine food in the Jefferson City that is, "Georges," throughout the 15 pages for George Drouillard. When area. rest of the book. I found this to be the reader compares that with the 342 - Darrel W. Draper
November 2007 We Proceeded On - 29 Charlottesville area welcomes foundation for 39th annual meeting
ore than 250 people attended Mthe foundation's 39th annual meeting, "Reporting Back to Jefferson," in Charlottesville, Virginia. The foundation's Home Front, Carolinas and National Capital chapters served as hosts for three days of scholarship, touring and fun. Annual meeting co-chairwomen Anne Tufts and Malou Stark welcomed attendees on Monday morning. Several representatives of the Boy Scouts of America joined the foundation to celebrate the signing of a national memorandum of understanding between our orgamzanons, which promotes Lewis and Clark stewardship, scholarship and leadership to the Clockwise from top: yomh of America. • Representatives of the Chickahominy Speakers at the meeting included and Rappahannock nations welcomed meeting attendees with dancing and Peter Kastor, Carolyn Gilman, Jane drum ceremonies in spite of a light rain Henley, Elizabeth Chew, Larry that fell just as they began. Morris, Tracy Potter, Rob Cox, • Attendees toured Montpelier, the Peter Hatch, Doug Seefeldt, Trent home of James and Dolly Madison, which is being renovated and restored. Strickland, Bob Anderson and Julia A great deal of archeaological work is Teuschler. being conducted on the grounds. A highlight for everyone was • Camp Pomp attendees, from left, an evening tour and reception at Tikhon Peterson, Nektary Telep and Seraphim Telep practiced their fire Monticello. Attendees were allowed making skills at the Lewis and Clark to tour the house at their leisure, and Living History Association's the Thomas Jefferson Foundation encampment. hosted a reception on the lawn. Attendees also visited Ashlawn Highland, the home of President James Monroe from 1799 to 1826; Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison, which is undergoing a rare archaeological restoration; the University of Virginia's rotunda, modeled by Thomas Jefferson after the Pantheon in Rome; and the university's Alderman Library Collection. The meeting closed with a report from Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (Bryant Boswell and Bud Clark) on their western journey to Presidents Jefferson, Madison and Monroe.
30 - We Proceeded On November 2007 Clockwise from upper left: • Attendees tour "The Lawn," in front of the University of Virginia's rotunda, which was designed to be the ar chitectural and intellectual heart of Thomas Jefferson's "academical village" at the university. • Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark reported on their journey to presidents James Madi son, James Monroe and Thomas Jefferson at the final banquet. • The Lewis and Clark Living History Association's encampment (behind the Double Tree Hotel) was a highlight for many attendees. • Charlottesville Boy Scouts were joined by foundation member Daniel Florian of Texas I center. in blue) to post the colors at the business meeting. • The Thomas Jefferson Foundation hosted an evening reception for meeting attendees on the lawn of Monticello. • The Foundation signed a national memorandum of understanding with the Boy Scouts of America, kicking off a national partnership to promote Lewis and Clark stewardship, scholarship and leadership to the youth of America. Those influential in development of the partnership were. from left, Steve Powell, Jim Gramen tine, Judy Powell, Claire Powell, Denton Florian, Daniel Florian, Wendy Raney and Joe Glasscock, director of program development, Boy Scout Divison of the Boy Scouts of America.
November 2007 We Proceeded O n ~ 31 Soundings
Reflections from a past president
The 2007 annual meeting included a special tribute to an 18-year commitment
BY RoN LAYCOCK
attended my first an board member, officer Inual meeting of the and president of the Lewis and Clark Trail foundation. These have Heritage Foundation been wonderful, re in Bozeman, Montana, warding years and I've in 1989. It was my first met many fine people introduction to the and have made many foundation's member friends in the Lewis ship-its "family." One and Clark "family." of the people I met was The annual meeting Jeny Garrett, who had in Charlottesville was come up with the idea my last meeting as an of starting to plan for officer or committee the bicentennial of the chairman. My fam- Lewis and Clark Ex ~ ily made sure it was a pedition. Upon his ~ memorable meeting. invitation, I agreed to ii Following the an- become a member of the Ron and lone Laycoc k displayed the quilt, hand-made by their daughter LeAnn, nual meeting's opening Bicentennial Commit with signatures of family members and friends Ron has made during his 18 years ceremonies and before as a member of foundation committees and its board of dire ctors. tee. Little did I know the evening's program that it would be an 18-year commitment! began, my son Mike and daughter LeAnn took the stage. The Bicentennial Committee started out as a foundation Following a beautiful and, at times, humorous tribute by committee but soon spun off into its own 501(c)3 Mike, LeAnn made a special presentation. She is an accom organization we called the Bicentennial Council. The plished quilter and presented me with a beautiful quilt. Each Bicentennial Council had its ups and downs and faced many of the 90 squares had the signature of a family member or a challenges, yet it was successful in its efforts. When the foundation friend I have made over the years. council closed its books earlier this year, endowments were My daughter, my wife Ione, and Carol Bronson had set up to fund Native American language preservation and contacted friends to obtain their signatures for the quilt trail stewardship. The foundation received $1.6 million for squares without my knowledge. a trail stewardship trust to support stewardship programs in Many of the signatures came back with notes, letters, the spirit of the bicentennial. photos and anecdotes, so my daughter-in-law Diane created In 1992, at my fourth annual meeting, Barb Kubik asked a scrapbook to go along with the quilt. We do have a if I would be chairman of the foundation's Chapter Liaison problem though. So many signatures came back that LeAnn Committee. I saw the numbers grow from eight chapters to kept adding squares to the quilt. It's queen-size-plus and nearly 40. During this time, the foundation also grew and doesn't fit our bed. It's more than eight feet long and our matured. In 1992, we didn't have staff or an office, only a walls are only eight feet. What a nice problem to have! post office box. We now have a professional staff and an I had mixed emotions that night, and still have. I'm very office in Great Falls, Montana. proud and very humbled by what my family and friends I have served as a committee member and chairman, arranged that night. It was truly an evening I'll never forget.
32 ~ We Proceeded On November 2007 Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. . -! • Competition begins September 1, 2007! ~:: ! Teams of four or individuals are encouraged to participate. To find out more about the Lewis & Clark Challenge, contact Wendy Raney for full details...... , .. ~ This program is supported by a Challenge Cost Share grant from the -- ... -:-. .... ~·~ ... ;-!4:- -, National Park Service...... - ...... ·- .... or~ • 4• • 1 ...... ~ , ... Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. . P.O. Box 3434 I Great Falls, MT 59403 ' www.lewisandclark.org Wendy Raney: 888.7 01.3434 Ext. 6 or [email protected]