Lewis & Clark Bicentennial activities and sites are still being developed along the route. Planners are urged to contact the destination marketing organizations along the route for updates.
Additional information sources:
National Park Service, 608-264-5610,
www.nps.gov.lecl and the National Council of the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial,
www.lewisandclarktrail.com.
NORTH DAKOTA
Tourism Division, 1-800-HELLO-ND,
www.ndtourism.com
The Lewis & Clark expedition spent 213 of their 882-day journey in North Dakota. They wintered with the Mandan Indians from November 1804 until April 1805, during which time Lewis helped deliver Sacagawea’s son, and they returned through North Dakota.
This is also the state that lays claim to Sacagawea, the young Shoshone woman who helped guide the expedition west. You’ll see her name spelled Sacagawea, Sakajawea and Sakakawea. The last spelling is based on her Hidatsa name, Bird Woman. Bird is Sakaka
and woman is wea. Even Lewis and Clark couldn’t quite make up their minds and used several different spellings.Several Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery interpretive markers are along the west side of the Missouri River on Highway 1806(named for the expedition’s return date) enroute to Bismarck.Five earth lodges have been reconstructed at On-A-Slant Indian Village at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park.
Contact 701-663-9571, www.ndparks.com.
MONTANA and IDAHO
Travel Montana: 800-VISITMT, www.visitmt.com.
Group department www.montanagroups.com,
406-841-2895
Idaho Travel Council: 800-VISIT-ID, 208-334-2470
www.visitid.org. Group department 208-334-2470,
www.touridaho.org
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana:
www.nwlewisclark.com
It’s a good thing the expedition was in high spirits and good health as they headed west in the spring of 1805 because they’d need every ounce of fat on their bodies and resolve in their souls over the last miles of the journey.Nasty weather, depleted food supplies and a brutal portage around the waterways of Great Falls lie ahead.Group planners will need to do some creative itinerary planning through Montana and Idaho. The events and attractions we have highlighted are grouped in geographic proximity but are not necessarily listed in chronological order.The first site in present-day Montana is Fort Union Trading Post at the confluence of the Missouri andYellowstone rivers. The recreated Bourgeois House,once the post’s administrative center, is now a museum.
Open daily, 701-572-9083, www.nps.gov/fous.
The northwest route takes in a landscape that is virtually unchanged from 200 years ago. The scenic overlook east of the Fort Peck Dam on Montana Highway 24 has Lewis & Clark interpretative signs and a museum.
Tours by reservation, 406-526-3431.
WASHINGTON and OREGON
Washington State Tourism,
360-753-5600,
www.experiencewashington.com
Oregon Tourism Commission,
503-986-0011, www.traveloregon.com,
www.OregonPackagedTravel.com
www.OregonPackagedTravel.com
The expedition left the Lewiston-Clarkston area and headed west on the Snake River, eventually reaching the Columbia River in Pasco.Anticipation was high —- they knew they were on the last leg of the intrepid journey. The Columbia River forms the border of
Washington and Oregon and there are expedition sites along both sides.At the Hells Canyon Resort & Marina in Clarkston, a 300-foot Lewis & Clark Timeline with journal entries and drawings has been erected.
Hells Canyon Visitor Association, 541-742-4222,
www.halfwayor.com/chamberofcommerce.
Interpretive signage near present-day Pomeroy marks the spot where Chief Big Horn of the Nez Perce tribe met Lewis & Clark.Fort Walla Walla Museum has a life-size diorama of the expedition,journal entries and pioneer displays.
