In the Land of Lewis and Clark

As somewhat of a literalist, I have a hard time celebrating the Fourth of July as "America's Birthday."  Independence Day, sure.  Day of national and historical significance, sure.  But we did not become a nation the day we declared our independence from the British Empire, we had to fight a war to make it legitimate and true.  We didn't even have the government we (somewhat) know today until 1787, and that is what I tend to focus on.

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A confluence of unfortunate events put me in North Dakota the past few days, and while I have been fortunate enough to make a couple trips to South Dakota over the last three years I have not yet had the opportunity to go to North Dakota, and I was excited.  Just being there, close to one of the most important sites to my favorite historical tale was cool enough.  Friday night I was alone at the hotel in Bismarck, which is not the most happening place in the U.S.  It was too late to buy any more beer, I had finished all that I did have, so I sat up surfing the web.  Mostly I looked at Facebook, caught up on hockey trade news since the free agency deadline was Thursday, and enjoyed the very cool and breezy weather alone--I had been in a whirlwind of plane and car travel, and meeting tons of in-laws that I had never met before and my social gas was all empty.  I had picked up a brochure in the hotel lobby about the North Dakota Historical Society Museum, located in Bismarck, and I decided to see if they might have any Lewis and Clark exhibits.  From their scant website it didn't look as if they did.  I began looking at the trail to see if there might be any locations of significance between Bismarck and Rapid City--the route we'd be driving the next day.  There weren't.


Discouraged and thinking ahead to the next time I'd be out in the area I noticed a town called Washburn, ND.  I clicked on the dot on the map to see what Lewis and Clark event happened there.  It was 30 miles north of Bismarck, but 30 miles there is not like 30 miles here, or just about anywhere else.  Roads with no traffic and high speed limits means you can travel 30 miles in about 20 minutes.  When the link opened it was like opening the best Christmas present in the world!  FORT MANDAN!  I was sitting a mere 30 miles from one of the most significant locations on the entire Corps of Discovery route!  The only one more exciting and enticing would be the location from which they first spotted the Pacific Ocean and camped over the winter of 1805-1806.


When Kirby got back to the room I could hardly wait to tell him what I'd found!  I waited up until 4:00 am for him to get in from visiting with his cousins just to share the news and see if it would be a possibility to go Saturday before trekking back to Rapid.  Did he think his Mom and Jim would want to go?  Would it be a big deal?  It really wasn't that far, and we were already all the way out in North Dakota and to be 30 miles from Fort Mandan!!!  He got a big kick out of my excitement over something seemingly not cool, important or entertaining.  He was tickled and annoyed both, I think, at being married to one of the only 20-somethings in the entire country, or world, who would be so positively giddy about Fort Mandan.  I could hardly go to sleep I was so excited, and talked to him about all of the awesomeness that is Lewis and Clark until he was asleep and I was talking to myself!


So, the next afternoon, after another lunch at Taco John's, we headed north on Highway 83 to Washburn.  The short 20 minute drive felt like a long time, I was so excited to get there.  While I can't say that the site does the events that took place there any justice, it was a nice "interpretive center" and a very nice replica fort.  I'm saddened that none of the original artifacts remain and that looking at replicas doesn't really do it for me. 

Still, I was in awe of the fact that this area is where Lewis, Clark and the entire Corps of Discovery including Seaman, spent a long, hard winter.  The most difficult part of their passage complete, the men built a tiny fort and hunkered down in one of the most inhospitable places possible for a winter "camping adventure."  The entirety of the expedition amazes me to no end, and how I came about knowing so much about the journey was mere happenstance.  When I think of America, the American Spirit, and all that we are today no one embodies that more to me, personally, than the men of the Corps of Discovery.

I was super excited that Fort Mandan is the location of the Seaman statue, erected just a few years ago, to honor the Newfoundland belonging to Meriweather Lewis who accompanied the men on the entirety of their journey.  Seaman cost Lewis the equivalent of $300 in today's money, and given the multitude of things he did on the trip, I'd say he was worth every penny.  Just as York, due to being a slave, wasn't noted for his contribution to the Corps, Seaman has been long overlooked for his contributions simply because he is a dog.  He has gained more and more recognition as time has passed, now being the main character in several children's books on the subject matter, but the story of Seaman is just as remarkable as any other Corps member.  Always the loyal companion, it is believed that Seaman was at Lewis' side in Tennessee when he passed away and never left the area until his own death.

I even managed to get Kirby somewhat excited about Lewis and Clark, probably because you can't be around me in that situation and not "catch" some of my enthusiasm.  But I think after seeing some of the things and getting a better first hand look at what these guys did he realized they were pretty cool after all.  They were, by any accounts, some of history's manliest men!

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What does it all have to do with the Fourth of July, you might be asking, since that is where this post began.  America declared, then won through battle, independence from the British Empire.  A failed experiment of government often overlooked ensued in the immediate post-Revolution years.  Finally, as the 1700's drew to a close the Founders perfected the Republic that we now call the United States of America.  Our 3rd President, himself one of the original founders and the author of the Declaration of Independence was the first person to purchase an empire.  Buying the Louisiana Territory from the French was unheard of--an act of strategic diplomacy aimed at preventing another war with the British, and the Spanish.  It gave birth to the notion of Manifest Destiny, and brought America from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.  It continued to nurture the "Frontier Spirit" made famous in Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis in the late 1800's.  It made possible all that America is today, creating a reason for a transcontinental railroad, and an engine for economic development. 

I am not one to overlook the importance of our Founders, the year 1776 and all that happened then, and since.  However, if one group of men embodied all that America means and blazed a path for every American since, it was the Corps of Discovery.  Their travels, battles, insights and hard work really comes to life when you can stand by their camp site, overlooking the Missouri River which they forded stream, barely covering ten miles a day in literally uncharted territory.  To have felt what they did the first day of their journey.  To have understood the confusion and fear the first time they encountered a Grizzly bear.  To have camped in the open wilderness with your dog by your side.  To nearly starve to death for lack of food at times.  To have seen the Pacific over the ridge for the first time.  To spend months hunkered down in a tiny fort, in sub-zero temperatures across the river from the largest city in North America at the time (albeit a Native American city). They drew the first map of America, literally and figuratively. 

"Ocian in view! O! The Joy!"