Following Lewis and Clark

Visiting sites where the Lewis and Clark Corps. of Discovery once trod

Leaving the depressing situation I found in Butte, Montana, I traveled on I-90 to Three Forks, where I picked up William Clark's trail of 1806 as he and 12 members of the Corps. of Discovery split from the main party that was returning via their outbound trail of the year before. Clark's goal was to explore the Yellowstone River to the point where it joined the Missouri River in North Dakota.


A short while later, I found myself in Livingston, where Clark's party intercepted the Yellowstone River. This town brought back memories of a day our family spent there in the late 1990s on our way to a 60th anniversary celebration for my wife's aunt and uncle in Colorado.

On that trip, our RV chose a moment at the top of a pass in Yellowstone park to have a mechanical failure. My son and I were able, literally with the help of a coat hanger and duct tape, to patch the vehicle, allowing us to limp back to Livingston, MT where we spent a day making more permanent repairs.

My comment to our mechanic, when he asked why I was so calm through the process, was, "When you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." We modified our schedule to make up for the lost day, and had a great time in Colorado.

Next stop - Pompey's Pillar

I passed Billings, MT and soon switched to I-94,which would take me to destinations in North Dakota, including a reconstruction of Ft. Mandan, where the Lewis and Clark group spent the winter of 1804-5.

Since I-94 follows the Yellowstone River, it was no surprise to find many signs and markers relating to Lewis and Clark. About thirty miles east of Billings I spotted one for a National Monument called Pompey's Pillar.

Sacagawea's son

You may recall that Lewis and Clark had three people with them that had not been with the party when it left St. Louis in 1804. While at Ft. Mandan for the winter of 1804-5, they hired Toussaint Charbonneau, a French trapper who spoke several Indian languages, as a guide for the continuation of their trip up the Missouri. Charbonneau was married to a young Shoshone girl, Sacagawea, who was pregnant. It was agreed that she would accompany them because of her knowledge of the Shoshone language. It was decided that this could be useful when they encountered those tribes later on their trip. After they resumed their trip in the spring, Sacagawea gave birth to a son, Jean-Baptiste, who became a favorite of William Clark. Clark nicknamed the child "Pompy", which means little chief in Shoshone.


Sacagawea proved invaluable to the Corps. Her language skills would help the party negotiate for horses with the Shoshone. She contributed in other ways as well, all while nursing and caring for her infant son. Truly an amazing woman.

Pompey's Pillar from the visitor center trail

Clark named the distinctive rock adjacent to the Yellowstone River that I was now visiting after Sacagawea's son. And, as has often happened with other place names, the spelling changed at some point from Pompy to Pompey.

 

Signature left by Clark on the pillar

William Clark carved his signature on this sandstone butte. It is the only known physical evidence that remains of the expedition.

Further reading about Pompey's Pillar here:

Next, I traveled to North Dakota, a first for me. I'll visit Theodore Roosevelt's ranch and then make another stop at a Lewis and Clark site.

My goal for a recent trip I took was to pick up great grandpa Jerome Mann's trail west from Ohio, beginning on February 5, 1855 when he joined what would become the Tenth Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army, in Chicago.

In this entry from his service record, you can see him on line 4, where we find that he is from Lorain County, Ohio, he is 21 years old, and his occupation is listed as a clerk.

Continuing across the page, we also find that he was sworn in at Chicago by a Lieutenant Collins for a 5 year term, and that his eyes were blue, his hair brown (trust me, several before him had the same hair color, hence the " marks), his complexion was fair, and his height was 5'9 1/2". He was enlisted in Company D of the 10th Regiment.

Finally, the last piece of information we have about Jerome in the army is that he was discharged on February 5, 1860 at Ft. Bridger, Utah Territory, as a Private.

From the History of the 10th Regiment I have learned that his first duty station was at Fort Snelling, located on the Mississippi River at what is today Minneapolis, MN. He arrived there on October 20, 1855, after first undergoing training in Pennsylvania. I decided to begin following Jerome's path of 157 years ago in Minneapolis...

Getting there

Since I live a few miles north of Seattle, WA, picking up Jerome's trail meant that I had to first drive 1,680 miles to Minneapolis. I decided to make the most of that task by visiting family, and investigating  historic sites along the way.

My first stop was near Spokane, WA, where I visited my sister and her family for a day or two. Then, it was on to Montana.

Anaconda Copper Company open pit mine, Butte, MT

I was interested in the story of  the open pit mine that scars the hillside in Butte. It reminded me of a similar pit, opened and operated by the same company in Mason Valley, NV where I grew up. As I found out, both pits were opened in the early 1950s, and an Anaconda executive, Clyde Weed, was instrumental in both operations. In fact, the company town site above the Nevada operation was named Weed Heights in his honor. Both pits have ceased operation, and have filled with water, but the one in Butte has an ongoing water treatment program to remove contaminants from the water before it rises to the level where it would pollute the region's aquifer. Quite a legacy for Clyde.

Learn about the Berkeley Pit Superfund Site here:

The Nevada site is also of concern to the Environmental Protection Agency - you can read more about that operation here:

Weed Heights, NV Mine Details:

Clyde Weed is revered in mining circles, as is evidenced by this article about his career.

Clyde Weed Article

In my next blog segment, I will go back in history to before Jerome Mann's time. As I continue across Montana, I'll trace paths followed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-06.