Lewis & Clark: Episode One

Signal Hill Musings, April 2017 ed., by Tom Shafer and Richard Seifried

Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 1:13 a.m. 

We are bedding in Sioux City, Iowa, after two days of our westward adventure. And, we are having a ball! Day one was spent driving the beautiful back roads of Missouri to visit Arrow Rock (the town and the state park). This is an old river town that has been nicely preserved — lots of Missouri history — and the park possesses a delightful visitor center that introduces the Lewis and Clark story very well. We got our first up-close glimpses of the river here (toes in the water!). We visited a couple of other interesting sites before stopping in St. Joseph for the night — and what a bumpy night. Lots of violent storms and heavy rain — three inches according to local stations.

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Our first stop today was Squaw Creek NWR — perhaps the nicest refuge I have visited. It sits on and above the Missouri flood plain and is home to lots and lots of birds and other animals. We took a very strenuous trail up onto a bluff above the flood plain. What a great trail and what a view! We observed two bald eagles flying along the bluff – an osprey and many other birds. And, here we saw more snails than we have ever seen before — literally hundreds! After lunch, we visited Indian Cave State Park to see petroglyphs (dating back several hundred years) carved into a sandstone cliff. Though many of the petroglyphs have eroded away, there are still many impressive bison and other creatures visible (kind of hard to tell what some of them are — apparently not all Native Americans are artistic).

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We stopped at an impressive Lewis and Clark museum (Missouri River Basin L&C Center) in Nebraska City before getting here to Sioux City — and another round of damaging storms. We are still under a tornado watch at this hour after being pummeled by seventy mile per hour winds and dime-sized hail about thirty minutes ago. What fun! Well, I must get to sleep here soon — much more adventure tomorrow. Hope all is well there — oh, and in case you were wondering, Richard has been asleep for a couple of hours now!!  He desperately needed his beauty rest tonight! 

Friday, June 19, 2009, 12:54 a.m.

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A couple of very busy days left me little time to word process, so here I am catching up while Richard saws logs across the room.  Yesterday started with a visit to Sergeant Floyd Monument, a memorial to the only man who died on the Lewis and Clark expedition.  Buried on the aptly named Floyd’s Bluff here in northeastern Nebraska, Floyd likely died from complications of acute appendicitis.  It seems rather hard to believe that he was the only member of the corps to die given the arduous task of traversing 7400 miles in 28 months.  On some days I can barely make my way from the Barcalounger to the kitchen.  They truly were extremely hardy and resilient men!

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From here we got lost looking for something called Ionia Volcano, a geological feature mentioned in the Lewis and Clark journal (I blame Copilot Richard – and perhaps the fact that it wasn’t a volcano at all and appears to have been replaced with a trailer park).  We did find Spirit Mound National Historic Park near Vermillion, South Dakota.  This is one of the few places along the Trail where you can walk, with absolute certainty, in the footsteps of Lewis & Clark.  The boys stopped here because local Native American tribes reported that the hill was inhabited by three foot tall men with enormously large heads.  Unfortunately, we didn’t find any of them, though we noted that excepting for our 6’2” frames, our heads more than certainly qualified.  What a beautiful little park this is!  A pleasant stroll took us to the top of the mound (populated with like a million toads!) and rewarded us with a stunning panoramic view of the South Dakota hill country. 

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After a restful evening on the banks of the Missouri River in Fort Pierre, South Dakota, we drove through rain to Huff Indian Village State Historical Site, an ancient (1450s+) Mandan village.  Depressions in the ground, arranged very precisely and deliberately, reveal the layout of a massive village that likely housed over a thousand Mandans.  Though not a Lewis and Clark site, it was on our route and difficult to pass up. 

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Our last stop of the day was the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Ft. Mandan near Washburn, North Dakota.  The LCIC is yet another impressive museum, and we spent two hours touring it.  Also included in the center’s collection are the artifacts of German Prince Maximilian and the interesting paintings of Swiss artist Karl Bodmer.  These two men bravely traveled the West visiting a number of Native tribes in the 1830s, and fortunately, this museum possesses most of their specimens/art.  Ft. Mandan itself is a near perfect replica (the plans exist!) of the overwintering site (1804-05) for the Lewis and Clark party.  Because of the construction of this fort, the boys survived the harsh North Dakota winter rather easily.  Many items bring life to the fort, making it feel as if the boys were out hunting and might return at any time. Oh, and it was here that Lewis and Clark were fortunate enough to meet a significant VIP, Sacagawea, who would prove to be a valuable member of the Corps of Discovery. 

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Well, we’re back in our room now after drinks and dinner at the Nite Owl Bar in beautiful Beulah, North Dakota.  Richard is still slumbering away and I am eager to return to a lovely book about the early life of Abraham Lincoln – can’t get enough of those Lincoln books!  Tomorrow finds us at Knife River National Historic Site and the north unit of Teddy Roosevelt NP.  L&Cers over and out!

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