L&C: Great Falls, MT--Amazing!

Road that goes down steeply from Lower Portage camp to Missouri, from where they have to haul everything up


The "experiment"; it failed



One of the falls in the Great Falls (modern dam above it)

map of falls

Today was a busy day! We did not go to Glacier, NP, because I was inexplicably awake from 2 to 4:30 so I slept in till after 7:30 this morning (thank you, Daisy!). After a quick wake up walk and some housekeeping, we set off before 9 for the L&C Interpretive Center at Great Falls. Then we came back to hotel for lunch and laundry, then set off again from 2 to 5:30 to find/explore the portage trails the L&C & Co. followed to get around the Falls. Tonight I've rearranged my itinerary--again--allowing for even more time in Montana and at the Pacific. Now, I'll get to the Pacific on Sept. 30 and leave for points South on Oct. 3.

The L&C Interpretive Center at Great Falls is an amazing museum and outdoor experience. I got there just as they opened (it got above 90 degrees here today so I had to get in and out before it was too hot to leave Daisy in the car). I spent about an hour inside, speaking to some of the interpreters and wandering through their exhibit that takes you from Washington, DC, to the Pacific and back.

The exhibit shows on one side what was going on with L&C, including some great explanations of things like how L&C surveyed the land and Clark created maps, how and what they packed (over 4 semi-trucks' worth of stuff!), and how they cached supplies at various places in Montana to pick up on the return journey. On the other side as you walk through history, you see who the Native American peoples were whom they encountered, their languages and customs, the impact on the of future American expansion, etc. Did you know that L&C encountered peoples speaking 50 different languages on their trip?

One of the things that amazes me is the sheer physical effort it took to accomplish this journey. Great Falls gives an extreme example: L&C has heard from the Mandan Indians with whom they had wintered that there was a Great Fall on the Missouri, whjich would require about a day's portage, and after which they would quickly be at the mountains beyond which lay a river leading to the Pacific. Well, they weren't quite accurate.

L&C found a series of 5 falls of varying heights, along a stretch of the river, that, as with many areas, was surrounded by high cliffs. To get up the falls (remember: they have been travelling UPstream the whole way), Lewis surveys an 18.5 mile portage, before and after which they have to haul everything up steep inclines. Sometimes the wind blows so hard they can hoist the sails on the canoes to help haul them across the bumpy land. The men collapse into sleep without even eating because the work is so strenuous.

By the way, food becomes important later. For now, when game is plentiful, each man eats about 9 punds of meat--mainly bison and elk, EACH day.

It takes about 11 days to accomplish the portage around the falls, and they leave some boats behind, because Lewis plans to assemble his collapsible iron boat at the top of the falls to take them the rest of the way. The Corps called this boat the "experiment," and with good reason. When they set forth to cover the iron ribs with elk skin, they could not make it waterproof, so the entire project was abandoned, and some of the men were set to cutting down 2 cottonwoods to create 2 more canoes. Finally they were able to set off West again and shortly arrive at the Headwaters, or Three Forks, which I described yesterday.

The whole of what I described today took place between June 13 and July 13, 1805. And it only took me a couple of hours to traverse the portage using some back, dusty roads and some detours caused by the Air Force base outside of town.

Here's a video of Miss Daisy having a ball today;