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Dear Friends of Lewis & Clark,
Lewis & Clark Forums & Galleries start in mid-FebruaryThe
Study Group & Travel Forums and Photo & Video Galleries will
launch in mid February. If you have any questions, please contact me by
email, and I will help you get started; plus I will post FAQ's
(frequently asked questions) on the forums.
Your help is needed in connecting the story to placeConnecting the Lewis and Clark story to specific geographic places is the big, unsolved puzzle. This project is bigger than any one of us can accomplish alone--that is, connecting the story, day by day, to modern places. It will be the primary mission of the Lewis and Clark Study Group Forum. The Forum will also be a place for general discussion of Lewis and Clark subjects. Anybody can participate in the Study Group, and all are welcome. New local area maps on the Study Group ForumThe Study Group Forum will have 131 individual maps showing the Lewis and Clark historic trail. The easy-to-read local area maps will show where they were on each date. It will no longer be a mystery as to what happened where. We know the timeline of the story, but the geographic story has yet to be sorted out and made available to everyone. It is, literally, unknown. The day by day journal entries of the six journal writers are available on the Journals website, hosted by the University of Nebraska Press. Inexpensive paperbacks of the journals are available through my Amazon Associate bookstore. Kira kira@lewisandclarktravel.com
www.lewisandclarkroadtrips.com
2007 Meritorious Achievement Award
Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
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Court record found for Sacagawea's children
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 The earliest probate court record book for St Louis was found in an old safe at the court house last fall.
William Clark became the guardian for Sacagawea's two children, Toussaint, "about the age of ten years," and his sister Lisette, age about one year old. The Orphans Court record was originally signed by John Luttig, company clerk of the Missouri Fur Company on August 11, 1813. William Clark must have been out of town, because he would know that Toussaint, also known as Pompey or Jean Baptiste, was then only 8 1/2 years old (born February 11, 1805). Later, Luttig's name was crossed out and William Clark's name was substituted, as you can see in the photo above.
John Luttig was the journal writer who wrote on December 20, 1812 at Fort Manuel in Kenel, South Dakota: "this evening the wife of Charbonneau, a Snake Squar, died of putrid fever. She was a good and the best Women in the fort, aged abt 25 years she left a fine infant girl." To read more about it, visit my blog.
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Fort Clatsop Sacagawea statue stolen
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 Sad news to report--the statue of Sacagawea stolen from Fort Clatsop National Memorial Park on the weekend of January 19-20, was cut up and destroyed before it was found at a scrap metal dealer in Bend, Oregon. The bronze statue, which was worth about $20,000 was sold for about $200 by four methamphetamine drug users, who were arrested on January 24th. The 5 1/2 foot tall statue of Sacagawea and Pomp was created by sculptor Jim Demetro of Battle Ground, Washington. The statue, which was dedicated in 2004, stood at Netul Landing in the national park dedicatd to Lewis and Clark near Astoria, Oregon. The latest news is from the Daily Astorian, 1-3-08.
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Lewis and Clark news around the country
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 "Louis and Clark" at the Rose Bowl
The city of St Louis won the President's Trophy at the 119th Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1st. The float was called "St Louis, The Louis and Clark Expedition," which is a neat play on words. Way to go St. Lewis!
Upside to the downside of the dollar--marketing the "real" U.S.
South Dakota Tourism Director Billie Jo Waara says the devalued dollar is encouraging travel in the U S by Europeans. She says after they visit New York, Los Angeles and Miami, they want to see something "real." The Lewis and Clark Trail and Native American tourism is as real as it gets, and a whole lot of fun to market.
Rare Sacagawea Coin worth $10,000
"In God We Trust" was found on the outer edge of a Sacagawea coin. These words are being used on the new presidential coins only, so the lucky owner of the only coin found so far was awarded $10,000 by the Professional Coin Grading Service, as reported in the Denver Post (12/04/07). And moreover, he got to keep the coin!
Sculptor Glenna Goodacre recovers from serious illness
The sculptor of the Sacagawea and Pomp statue and creator of the dollar coin image gave a statue to St. Vincent's Hospital in Sante Fe, New Mexico as a thank you for saving her life after a brain injury. The statue was dedicated on January 18, 2008. Read about Goodacre's miraculous recovery in the Albuquerque Journal (1/18/08).
"Undaunted" New Director at Nat'l American Indian Museum
As a charter member of the NAIM I received a letter, printed on both sides of one page with no inserts, from the new director, Kevin Gover, a lawyer and member of the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. I was pleased to see this frugal mailing after the elaborate mailings I receive from some organizations, but I didn't need to be convinced that the NAIM is no boondoggle. I have no trouble with founding director Richard West making trips to Europe to market the museum and Indians. To read more about it, here's a link to a recent article in The New York Times (1/21/08) "Undaunted Director at Indian Museum."
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Biddle the Bear Buddy Club Starts
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 Biddle the Bear has already started to see the sights in DC, and has visited Big Bone Lick Park in Kentucky besides.
Charter members of the Biddle Buddy Club took Biddle into the National American Indian Museum. They reported that the museum guard got a big kick out of finding Biddle in their backpack when it was inspected! That's the Capitol in the background of this photo of Biddle at the National American Indian Museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
 Biddle is a natural celebrity. He loves to have his picture taken, and will pose endlessly. The original Biddle is safely at home with his owner Vicki Correia of Missoula, Montana, hibernating. However, several Biddle Buddies are loose on the trail. You can get your own Biddle the Bear Buddy and start planning where you will take him. We are now issuing charter membership cards, and I'm sure the Biddle Buddy Club section on the Travel Forum and Trail Photo Gallery will be a hit. Biddle was recently featured in the Missoula newspaper, and the story was picked up by the California Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation in their newsletter.
Will you help out in documenting the story of Lewis and Clark with a Biddle Buddy? If you are willing to sponsor a Biddle the Bear Buddy for a student's group,
please let me know. His kerchief reads "Biddle the Bear on the Lewis
and Clark Trail." We are thinking about creating a line of clothing. Ideas and inspiration are welcome.
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The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis: Murder or Suicide?
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I gave a talk on this subject to my local Mouth of the Platte Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation chapter in January. That's why I fell behind on my New Year's resolution to blog twice a week--I just got too interested in doing research! I have been working hard researching for the last couple of months. I literally have two tall bookcases filled with books and photocopy and lots of library/archive requests still coming in.
I did start a blog on Meriwether Lewis's connection to Aaron Burr and the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy, but even though I shortened it, I decided it was best to break it into parts. Only Part 1 is written. I interrupted it to get the newsletter out, and I will have to get the forums up next.
As to what I think about it: I think Lewis was murdered. It is only recently with the publication of Undaunted Courage that the theory of suicide gained such prominence.
I also did a short blog on a BookTV program featuring historians Joe Ellis and Richard Brookhiser on the early American Republic. Brookhiser provided a neat insight into Aaron Burr's charismatic hold over people. I liked the informal conversation format a lot, and recommend you listen to the one hour video broadcast on C-SPAN's BookTV.
Correction to blog: A friend pointed out that I made an error in placing the "Bastrop lands" near Austin, Texas on the Washita River. The Washita is in Oklahoma. Baron Bastrop did invest in land deals near today's Austin, Texas, but they are not the Bastrop lands associated with the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy. These lands are located on the Ouachita River in northern Louisiana near Monroe, Louisiana. They were conveniently located for an invasion of Texas/Mexico, to the east of the Sabine River.
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Photo credits: Biddle the Bear photo by Susan VanHaften. Court record courtesy of St Louis Probate Court.
Please contact me with news, corrections, suggestions; and for how to order autographed copies with personal messages.
Sincerely,
Kira Gale
River Junction Press LLC
Proceeding On Archives
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Lewis and Clark
Road Trips
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The perfect gift for someone planning to travel the trail
Personally autographed copies available through PayPal
$29.95 plus $8.95 s&h
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Lewis and Clark Road Trips: Exploring the Trail Across America by Kira Gale
$29.95, 274 pages, 161 maps, over 400 photos, full color "Reference books do not get any better than this one. It should be on every library shelf in every nook and cranny of America. It should be in the personal library of every Boy Scout, Girl Scout, and 4-H Leader." --John R. Wunder Nebraska HistoryAmazon Affiliate Bookstore |
Biddle the Bear
Lewis and Clark Trail
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Biddle the Bear
16 inch pot belly bear machine wash & dry
$36.95 plus $8.95 s&h
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Featured Sales Outlets
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If you are selling Lewis and Clark Road Trips, and are not on this list, send me an email. If you want to sell the book, visit our retail orders.
Blackfeet Nation Store Browning MT
John Heinz History Center Pittsburgh PA
Powell's Store Rare Books Section Lewis and Clark Portland OR
Columbia River Gateway Bookstore Cape Disappointment Ilwaco WA
Fort Clatsop Bookstore Astoria Oregon
Skamokawa Center Skamokawa Washington
Garst Museum Greenville Ohio
Appaloosa Museum, Moscow Idaho
Great River Road
Interpretive Center, Ste Genevieve, Missouri
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Gateway Arch, St Louis Missouri
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General Crook House Omaha Nebraska General Dodge House Council Bluffs IowaLewis and Clark Boat House and Nature Center, St Charles MissouriMissouri River Basin Lewis and Clark Center, Nebraska City NebraskaKreycik Riverview Elk and Buffalo Ranch, Niobrara NebraskaDakota Dinosaur Museum Dickinson, North DakotaLog Cabin Visitors' Center Vincennes IndianaCottonwoods Gift Shop, Fort Mandan Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, Washburn North DakotaArt's Sleeping Buffalo Resort Store, Malta MontanaKlein Museum, Mobridge South DakotaPortage Cache Store Lewis and Clark National Historic Interpetive Center Great Falls MontanaSquire Boone Caverns near Historic Corydon, IndianaAtchison Visitor Information Center, Atchison KansasMuseum of the American Quilter's Society, Paducah KentuckyWestern Historic Trails Center, Council Bluffs IowaStore of Discovery, Lewis & Clark State Historic Site, Hartford Illinois |
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Proceeding On