Flag Day 2011 - A Sioux City Salute

Flag Day 2011 over Sgt. Charles Floyd's grave site located south of Sioux City, Iowa. Sgt. Floyd was a member of Lewis & Clark's Corps of Discovery. This flag represents the number of states that made up the United States at the time of his death in 1804. Know that.

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Thunder Jack - Mountain Men Honored in Montana

Just north of the tiny town of Wilsall, Montana is a sculpture dedicated to the region's European fur trappers, traders, and trail guides. In 2006, local artist Gary Kerby created this seven foot tall sculpture. Local school children named the work, "Thunder Jack" in the spirit of the local mountain men whose era is generally defined from 1805 to 1835 for this Montana region. My photo was taken mid-morning on February 16th. Note the lack of snow as the region had experienced four days of unseasonal warm temperatures.

Just below Thunder Jack is the Shields River. Named by Captain William Clark after John Shields, a member of the Lewis & Clark expedition, the river flows into the Yellowstone River to the south. At that junction, the Corps of Discovery guided by Sacajawea, the Shoshone women camped on their return journey from the Pacific. Much later in the 1860s the river valley served as an extension to the Bozeman trail connecting Fort Laramie, Wyoming to the gold fields at Virginia City, Montana. Emigrant wagon trains were guided through this valley using scouts and sometimes old mountain men. Know that.

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Westward Thinking at St. Joseph, Missouri

Its a bit hard to find. Look for the Lewis and Clark Historical roadside historical signs pointing the way to this spot in St. Joseph, Missouri. As you travel through the hilly downtown, dominated by warehouses and government buildings you will glimpse the elevated I-29 interstate overhead. The downtown sign points you to the Missouri River. Take the brick paved street over the railroad tracks just a few yards from the river and you have arrived. 

Geographically, where you have arrived is a pivotal spot in American Western history. Here at the Missouri River's edge in St. Joseph is a triad of western journey. The first acknowledgement is the encampment sites of the 1803 Lewis and Clark expedition. The upriver and later downriver camp sites in the area are marked on an outdoor display.

The second acknowledgement is the start of the Oregon-California Trails from this spot. A plaque nearby says that each spring in the 1840s to 1850s the hills of St. Joseph were filled with hundreds of wagons waiting for ferries to take them across the river to trails leading west. On the day before Thanksgiving 2010 the only water craft visible from this marker was a tow, barge and dredger keeping the Missouri at nine foot depths for barge navigation (see the sand being piled on the barge between the tow and dredge.)

The last component of this special area is the embarking point for the short lived Pony Express. The St. Joseph to San Francisco mail route demonstrated quick information flow but when the organization did not receive a government contract the express folded as railroad and telegraphs made communication speedier.

These triad of markers at this place show wear, gang symbol spray paint and overgrown grass and bushes. Overhead the interstate traffic speeds along while the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe railroad rolls on. This area of St. Joseph is a conjunction of travel - then and today. Seek it out. Know that.

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Guardian of the Gates of the Mountains

Greeting visitors to Montana's Gates of the Mountains is this sculpture of a man and dog. The metal work is centered in an area filled with explanatory displays of the Gates region. Located behind the sculpture is a valley with a water way (the Missouri River) surrounded by sheer cliffs - the Gates.

Lewis and Clark and company traveled through this region. On July 19, 1805 Caption Lewis described the area as "this evening we entered much the most remarkable clifts that we have yet seen. these clifts rise from the waters edge on either side perpendicularly to the hight of 1200 feet. ... the river appears to have forced its way through this immense body of solid rock for the distance of 5-3/4 Miles ... I called it the gates of the rocky mountains."

Last Friday evening I was the only person at the sculpture park halfway between the interstate and water. Two hours earlier, the last boat ride had returned for the day so most visitors had already left. If you want to hear only the wind and birds (and occasional semi-truck on I-15 some 17 miles north of Helena, MT) seek this place out. Know that.

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