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Dear Friends of Lewis & Clark,
This will be a brief newsletter, as I hadn't expected to write it just before Thanksgiving. I have been busy with traveling to Tennessee and Mississippi, and then when I got back I indulged myself with a good long bout of research. Any of you who do research know how essential it is to stay focused (besides it's addictive!) I was happily contemplating several hundred pages of new archival material to look at, when I learned that C-Span has scheduled the book talk I gave at the Southern Book Festival for broadcast Thanksgiving weekend.
So here is the schedule. I hope you find time to watch it, or tape it to watch it later. Please get back to me. I would love to hear your comments.
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| C-Span BookTV Schedule for Kira's talk |
The Southern Book Festival was held at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville on October 10-11th this year. C-Span taped my talk, but I didn't expect it would be aired until sometime next year when there will a hearing conducted by the National Park Service, hopefully followed by an exhumation of Lewis's remains to determine the cause of his death. However, it will be broadcast over Thanksgiving weekend. Here are the times:
Thursday, Nov. 26th, 12 noon EST (Eastern Standard Time)
Friday, Nov. 27th, 12 midnight EST
Saturday, Nov. 28th, 3 PM EST
Sunday, Nov. 29th, 3 AM EST
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| Lewis Monument gets $3.2 million grant |
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The National Park Service, which administers the Meriwether Lewis National Monument & Gravesite has received a 3.2 million grant from stimulus funds, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Grant. Work on the site has already started, and is expected to be completed next year. The interpretive cabin will be renovated, and exhibits, signage, roads and parking will be improved. |
| Travel photos |
 The ceremony at the Meriwether Lewis National Monument & Gravesite on October 7th was blessed by good weather in a week of rainy days. Lawyer Tony Turnbow of Hohenwald, Tennessee organized the ceremony. It was extremely moving and dignified. Here you see the honor guard of Discovery Expedition of St. Charles re-enactors and members of the Tennessee State Guard.
 The crowd was estimated at over 1200 people.
Flag bearers proudly carred the flags of their home states which are along the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Each trail state contributed a framed and mounted plant specimen representing a plant gathered by Meriwether Lewis in their state. Cub scouts and boy scouts participated in the ceremony. These specimens will be displayed in the renovated interpretive center. Grinder's Stand, the replica of the cabin, where Lewis spent his last night is seen in the background.
 Bryant Boswell and Peyton "Bud" Clark with the new bust of Meriwether Lewis which will be placed in the Grinder's Stand interpretive center. Bryant organized the annual meeting of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation which was held in Olive Branch, Mississippi from Oct 3-7, 2009. He reenacts Meriwether Lewis for the Discovery Expepdition of St Charles. Bud Clark is a direct descendant of William Clark, who reenacts his famous ancestor for DESC.
Howell Bowen and Jane Lewis Henley, collateral descendants of Meriwether Lewis's family, were delighted with the
event as you can see.
A scene from "Inquest on the Natchez Trace," a play written by Tony Turnbow. The play takes place in 1809, and is an inquest investigating Lewis's death. Here Mrs. Grinder is answering questions and her testimony is being recorded. The play was performed in Hohenwald that weekend. It was fun to see.
My co-author Jim Starrs was a guest on the local morning radio show on WMLR in Hohenwald along with myself. The 2 hour radio show is broadcast from the front porch of the Buffalo River Coffee Company in good weather. In the background, Tony Turnbow is standing on the left. To my delight, a reader of this newsletter was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch listening to our interview!
Amber Falls Winery in the hills near Hohenwald hosted a special evening of wine tasting and music on their patio. They have issued a special wine called Meriwether Lewis. It sells for $25 a bottle and is a merlot blend, a dry red wine. They will ship. Call them at
(931) 285-0088. Their website is
www.amberfallswinery.com . As this goes out, they don't have their new Meriwether Lewis wine listed on the site, but will have it up soon. (We all know how that is!) |
| The Death of Meriwether Lewis |
THE DEATH OF MERIWETHER LEWIS--
A HISTORIC CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION
I urge anyone interested in Lewis and Clark to get this book. The twenty documents pertaining to the death of Lewis make an invaluable addition to the Lewis and Clark literature, regardless of whether you believe it was suicide or murder. Until you have examined the evidence, you can't know the "back story." As someone just told me after my booktalk yesterday, we have had "airbrushed history" instead of the facts. This book supplies all the facts that any historian has ever based his opinions on. And it is only opinions until we have an exhumation, which hopefully will "solve the mystery." In the meanwhile, you can play amateur detective yourself. In addition the book has the transcript of the Coroner's Inquest, and my 85 page narrative, "The Case for Murder."
Our websites' bookstore is an Amazon affiliate, which means that every book you purchase gives us a percentage of the sale. Anything you buy will subsidize the expenses of this newsletter, and it doesn't cost you anything! You can also help advertise The Death of Meriwether Lewis by purchasing both it and another book. Then it will be cross-promoted on both book's pages, as "Customers who bought related items also bought. . ." Browse the websites' bookstore .
If you prefer to support your local bookstore, please ask them to stock our books. If they sell them and are not listed on the "Featured Sales Outlets" (seen here on the right) please let me know. All these listings are free. | |
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A PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT FOR SOME PEOPLE Please contact me with news, corrections, suggestions; and for how to order autographed copies of Lewis and Clark Road Trips or The Death of Meriwether Lewis with personal messages.
Sincerely,
Kira Gale
River Junction Press LLC kira@lewisandclarktravel.com
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| s Death of Meriwether Lewis: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation |
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Death of Meriwether Lewis: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation by James E. Starrs and Kira Gale
$16.95 368 pages
42 photos & illustrations, 5 maps
Also available in
e-book formats: Kindle, Sony Reader and Adobe pdf
Get the facts--
The testimonies of the 13 expert witnesses at the 1996 Coroner's Inquest in Lewis County, Tennessee including some of the biggest names in crime scene investigation as to what might be learned if an exhumation takes place
The historic record concerning Lewis's death--twenty documents with commentary
Kira Gale's 85 page narrative
"The Case for Murder"
identifies suspects and motives
From Booklist
"Starrs and Gale's capacious, document-driven argument that Lewis was not a suicide isn't the most editorially polished of books, but should Lewis's bones make headlines, if and when they speak forensically from the grave, grassroots enthusiasm for it may take flight." |
Lewis and Clark
Road Trips: Exploring the Trail Across America
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The perfect gift for someone planning to travel the trail
Personally autographed copies available
$29.95 plus $8.95 s&h
Pay by mail by personal check
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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 |
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.
PreservationDirectory.com
on the internet
Mississippi Crafts Center Ridgeland MS
National Park Service Bookstore Omaha NE
Headwaters Heritage Museum & Gift Shoppe Three Rivers MT
Blackfeet Nation Store Browning MT
John Heinz History Center Pittsburgh PA
Powell's Store Rare Books Section Lewis and Clark Portland OR
Powell's Store
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
