The Lewis and Clark Trail, Great Falls, Montana

On Wednesday, August 15th, we had a big greasy breakfast at a gas station diner while listening to the locals discussing the problems with farm credit and identity theft. Very entertaining. We drove south to Great Falls, a city named for the five waterfalls nearby on the Missouri River. Founded in 1883, businessman Paris Gibson established an industrial city using hydroelectric power harnessed from the mighty river. With many hydroelectric dams still in operation, Great Falls' nickname is the 'Electric City'.

Exhibit demonstrating the steep
portage around the falls

We first headed to the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center which overlooks the river from a high bluff. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were tasked by President Jefferson to explore the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase for the express purpose of finding a Northwest Passage, an all water route from the east coast to the Pacific Ocean. They began their trip in 1804 with a crew of 30 men, eventually including the young family of Sacagawea (Shoshone interpreter), her husband (speaker of French and several native languages) Toussaint Charbonneau, and their infant son, Jean Baptiste.

Underground cache where the team
stashed items for their return trip

They followed the course of the Missouri River upstream from St. Louis to Fort Mandan in present-day North Dakota. Fort Mandan was village of Mandan and Hidatsa tribes where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804-1805 gathering information from the native people about how to find the headwaters of the Missouri River. They learned of a split in the river where the 'correct fork' would have a giant waterfall. Arriving in the area in June 1805, much to Lewis' dismay, he found not one, but five succeeding cascades. The easy half a day Lewis had envisioned would be required to portage their gear around the one expected waterfall, instead took them 18 miles overland and an entire month of time.

Sacagawea, Shoshone interpreter

Lewis and Clark's month long delay was only one disappointment, however. By August of 1805, Lewis crossed the Continental Divide and Lemhi Pass. Expecting to see a vast plain stretching to the Pacific Ocean on the other side of the Bitteroot Mountains and seeing only more mountains instead, the century long hope for a Northwest Passage was finally dashed. Needing horses to pack over the mountains, the expedition arrived at the Shoshone camp where Sacagawea elatedly recognized the chief as her brother, a man she had not seen since she was kidnapped by Hidatsa warriors 5 years earlier. With her involvement, the Shoshone provided horses for the Corps' grueling 160-mile trip over the Rocky Mountains. Descending a few weeks later from the mountains starving and half-dead near present-day Weippe, Idaho, they were greeted by the Nez Perce tribe, who fed and sheltered them.

Shoshone tipi

By mid-October the crew reached the Columbia River and traveled swiftly downstream, the current at their backs for the first time in two years, finally reaching the Pacific Ocean. They wintered in Fort Clatsop, named for the nearby Clatsop Indian tribe. Typical of the Pacific Northwest, during their four months spent there they saw only 12 days without rain. Soggy and eager to return home, they left Fort Clatsop in the end of March, 1806. Following the advice of several tribes, they used a shorter path eastward and arrived in St. Louis in September.

Though they failed in finding the fabled Northwest Passage, President Jefferson had also tasked them with making scientific discoveries of the plants and animals of the region. In this, they were very successful. Identifying over 120 new mammals, birds, fish and reptiles as well as at least 182 new plants previously unknown to western science, Lewis succeeded in contributing significantly to the knowledge of native flora and fauna. Their other greatest success was Clark's mapping of the Louisiana Purchase territory. Previously, maps simply stopped west of the Mississippi River and, in this, Clark's crude but accurate field mapping provided detailed and accurate geographical information about much of the area, including the vast north-south mountain systems (the Rockies and the Cascades).

As the Corps of Discovery made its way east back to St. Louis, they passed adventurers heading westward before the team had even reported its findings. The impact of their journey can not be understated. Immediately following their trip, adventure seekers and entrepreneurs headed west to make their fortunes in agriculture, mining, fur trapping and other pursuits. The development of the west was unstoppable, ending life as they knew it for all 50 of the Indian tribes the expedition encountered.

While at the museum, we watched two films, one about the daunting portage required to circumvent the five waterfalls of the Missouri River and the other about the team's trials and tribulations along the rest of the path. What a fascinating museum!

Bluff overlooking the Missouri River

Outside, we wandered over to the bluff and watched the pelicans and other seabirds standing on the shallow shoals in the middle of the river. Nearby we saw one bunny after another hopping through the scrubby brush. So cute!

We drove on to the Dick's RV Park on the southwestern side of the city, a lovely sprawling park with friendly staff and easy access to the rest of the town. After a quick late lunch, we headed to the WalMart for supplies and settled in for the evening.

One of many painted buffaloes around town

In the morning, we began a full day of chores. We did laundry, cleaned the inside of the RV, tested and fixed the trailer lights, repaired the broken vent cover, replaced the wiper blades on both vehicles, surveyed the condition of the awning and bought new tires for the car. After all that, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to a couple of thrift stores and a jelly donut each. Nice. After Ken cooked us fantastic dinner, we spent the rest of the evening planning our next few weeks, poring over maps and brochures from all over Montana, Wyoming and beyond. What a great couple of days!