The Historian in me also truly enjoys doing parts of the Oregon Trail and the pathways of Lewis and Clark. Tracing along parts of their ways reminds me of what it must have taken for them to not only endure but survive and triumph! Lewis and Clark in opening the West and pointing the way for those intrepid pioneers that range from the Whitmans to Doc Maynard. We are doing it from the inside of an air conditioned Dodge Caravan while they did it by canoe, on foot, horse and wagon.
We carry our gear without effort, sleep in nice hotels and eat in fun restaurants. They carried what they needed and had to trade with mysterious peoples along the route or hunt and fish before they ate dinner. My sister's only demand on our trip was for us to find Sonic style ice while the pioneers just wanted a drink of decent water.
We whiz by rivers while they had to either float or swim across them. The most common form of death on the Oregon trail was not death by hostiles Indians but by drowning trying to cross rivers. The second cause of death was from gunshot wounds, accidental gun shots from pioneers stuffing handguns into their pants and having a round in the chamber! It is instructive to go by and remember their struggles but so much more peaceful and pleasant to drive by!
A few years ago Angela and I found the Lewis and Clark Interpretive center in Great Falls, Mt. I think we stopped in Great Falls because we saw that there was a Hardees and I wanted a biscuit for breakfast but we were quick to jump on this museum. The biscuits were good too!
We wanted to show it to Anita so we stopped and she and I went on a tour of it. Angela took a bike ride along the river trail while we enjoyed the museum. The wind was ferocious so I was happy to go and see the museum!
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| Can you imagine pulling up all the gear and boats to get over the Falls? |
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| The Falls used to be more dramatic but damming them up has reduced the Falls. |
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