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NEWSLETTER OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION DECEMBER 2020 1 www LCTHF Schedules “Trailhead 2021” in Clarkston, WA, from September 11 to 13, 2021. The Washington and Idaho Chapters are currently planning to host the LCTHF’s annual gathering, Clarkston Trailhead 2021. The parameters of an in-person meeting will depend on the local Covid-19 protocol guidelines. Member safety is an integral part of the planning process so that the gathering will resemble the LCTHF’s more limited “regional” meetings. The sessions will be held outdoors; the number of in-person attendees may be limited; and there The Clearwater (Koos-Koos-Kee) River near the Nez Perce National Historical will be no large group events, no large Park Visitor Center in Lapwai, ID. Photo by Mark Jordan group meals, and no bus tours. The first field trips, conducted by car caravan, will focus on the 25 Lewis and Clark public interpretive artworks in the region. The last day of the meeting will feature the Weippe Discovery Center, the meeting place with the Nez Perce, and a short hike on the Lolo Trail. This will also be Day One of a four-day post- meeting camping trip led by Chuck Raddon along the Lolo Trail. The online meeting planned in conjunction with the in-person gathering will be aired separately. Submitted by Steve Lee The CARES Act 'Tis the Season to Give a Gift Membership in the LCTHF. There is still time to celebrate this holiday season as The CARES Act relaxes some well as next year's birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations by limitations on charitable sharing the joy and excitement of membership in the LCTHF with contributions regardless of those special someones. Go to https://www.lewisandclark.org to whether the individual give the gift that truly keeps on giving—We Proceeded On, The itemizes deductions. For Orderly Report, national and local gatherings (both virtual and in those who itemize their person), friendships, and more. Or send a check to Chris Maillet; deductions, the 50 % of LCTHF; PO Box 3434; Great Falls, MT 59403. Please call 406-454- adjusted gross income limit is 1234 for more information. Just think: if everyone gives one gift suspended for 2020. membership, we will double our numbers! NEWSLETTER OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION DECEMBER 2020 2 Adapting Tours in the Time of Covid-19. While the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Sioux City, IA (LCIC-SC), focuses on the expedition’s events that occurred in present-day Iowa and Nebraska, the most significant for us is the death of Sergeant Floyd. Our center has had to make some changes due to Covid-19 after learning that our normal school tours for fourth and fifth graders were canceled this fall. Just three months into the expedition and at age 22, Sergeant Floyd developed “bilious colic” (bad stomach cramps). Lewis treated him with “thunderclapper” pills, a fast-acting laxative. Next Lewis tried bleeding Floyd, but his condition deteriorated, and he died. Many historians believe that Floyd may have had appendicitis. He was buried with full military honors on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. In 1857 a flood washed away parts of the bluff, exposing the bones. Some Sioux City residents took his bones and reburied them. Finally, in 1901 Floyd’s remains were exhumed, placed in an urn, and buried under a marble slab over which a 100-foot obelisk monument was built. The Floyd Monument within a 23-acre park with a Floyd Monument in Sioux City, commanding view of the river has become a major area landmark. IA. Photo by Sara Olson To ensure that students would not miss out on this aspect of local history during the pandemic, Sara Olson, the LCIC-SC’s education coordinator, recorded a virtual tour. Sara also developed a comprehensive education packet containing 11 pages of information, maps, and activities for the teachers to use as they deemed appropriate. She then advised all the teachers that these items, along with our standard activity book, were available upon request. With teachers struggling to adapt their teaching to modified face-to-face and online student engagement, providing these materials is one small way in which the LCIC-SC can help the teachers. Submitted by Theresa Jackson LCTHF Announces Photo Contest from January 1, Inside This Issue: 2021, to April 30, 2021. To be eligible photos must be taken within the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail corridor or at other Sioux City Adapts to Covid-19 2 Lewis and Clark historic sites. The photos must be submitted in high- LCTHF Photo Contest 2 definition format and must be taken by the person submitting the photos. The contest is open to non-professional photographers only. Fort Pitt Blockhouse 3 The categories for the contest are: Landscapes; People on the Trail; Kaw Point Restoration Project 4 Historic Lewis and Clark Sites; Public Lewis and Clark Art; and Flora and Fauna. Winners will be announced in June 2021. Lolo Pass Sign Installation 4 Gorski and Raddon Awards 5 LCTHF members may submit up to two photos each in up to three categories. LCTHF non-members may submit one photo each in up to Talent Along the Trail 6-7 two categories. Non-members can become members of the LCTHF Fort Owen State Park 8 and have the same submission privileges as members. LCTHF- appointed judges will evaluate the submissions. All photographers Sherman Library Acquisition 8 will agree to the LCTHF’s right to use submitted photos for any and all Cramer’s Ohio River Guide 9 LCTHF promotional and membership materials at no charge to the LCTHF. Photos will also be shown on social media platforms. The Buying Used Books 9 contest rules and submission forms will be available on the LCTHF White Cliffs Canoe Trip 10 website https://www.lewisandclark.org as of January 1, 2021. Submit the completed forms and photos to Sarah Cawley at [email protected] or LCTHF; PO Box 3434; Great Falls, MT 59403. Submitted by Sarah Cawley NEWSLETTER OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION DECEMBER 2020 3 How Did the Members of William Clark’s Family Save Pittsburgh's Fort Pitt Blockhouse? Fort Pitt Blockhouse was a redoubt constructed in 1764 as part of Fort Pitt. The fort was built at Pittsburgh's Point, known as the Forks of the Ohio at the time, where the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers come together to form the Ohio. Today the area is often termed the Golden Triangle. Eventually Fort Pitt was torn down and replaced by Fort Lafayette (shortened to Fort Fayette) further up the Allegheny River. Fortunately, the Blockhouse remained. The land at the Point was eventually purchased in 1802 by Pittsburgh businessman James O'Hara. View from Mount Washington. The Allegheny and Monongahela O’Hara had been the army quartermaster general rivers come together at Pittsburgh’s Point to form the Ohio in the during the Whiskey Insurrection in Western area known as the Golden Triangle. Photo by Janice Wilson Pennsylvania (recall that Lewis was in the area at the time) and had also been the quartermaster for Anthony Wayne's First American Legion (recall that Clark was a member of the Legion and later became Meriwether Lewis' commanding officer). Both events took place in the early to middle 1790's. Probably neither Lewis nor Clark had any direct contact with O'Hara. A daughter of the O'Hara family married a gentleman from Louisville, KY, by the name of William Croghan Jr. William was the son of Lucy Clark Croghan who, of course, was the sister of William Clark. That would make William Croghan Jr the nephew of William Clark. William Croghan Jr and wife Mary O'Hara Croghan had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth. At the young age of 15, Mary Elizabeth married a British army captain by the name of Schenley. At the death of her grandparents and parents, Mary Elizabeth inherited the land at Pittsburgh's Point as well as much of the O'Hara/Croghan fortune. Mary Elizabeth and her husband moved to Europe but returned often to her Pittsburgh home and to Louisville's Locust Grove to visit the Croghan/Clark families. So how did the William Clark extended family save the Fort Pitt Blockhouse? A Pittsburgh industrialist by the name of Henry Clay Frick purchased all of Mary Elizabeth's inherited land at the Point, except for the Blockhouse and a small amount of land around the structure. Frick even offered to move the building to another location. To save the blockhouse, Mary Schenley donated the area to the local Daughters of the American Revolution. The DAR was then involved in several court battles to save the structure for future generations. Thanks to the foresight of Mary Schenley and the DAR we will be able to see the Blockhouse and other historical sites at the Point including the Fort Pitt Museum and the outlines of Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt. The LCTHF 2022 Annual Meeting is scheduled for August 7 to 10, 2022, in Pittsburgh, PA. With its theme of “Down the Ohio: The Journey Begins,” the meeting will concentrate on events leading up to the expedition, Pittsburgh in 1803, and sites related to Meriwether Lewis. Partnering with the LCTHF will be the Senator John Heinz History Center and the Beaver County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation. The host hotel will be the Pittsburgh Drury Inn Downtown. The Planning Committee is continuing to meet via email until it is safe to travel. Regardless of the state of Covid-19, virtual meetings or a combination of virtual and in-person gatherings may well be our future.