Lewis and Clark at the Great Falls

Missouri River wandering through Montana

2019-09-09 Monday

It rained all night, but this morning when I woke up, it had finally stopped. With hope that the day would stay relatively dry, we drove from Helena to Great Falls, Montana. Our destination was the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center at Great Falls.

The scenery was pretty at first, and then suddenly we entered a deep alley between mountains. We’d been following a river almost the entire time, but it took us until then to figure out that it was the Missouri River, which was our companion all day. We also didn’t realize, but found out at the Interpretive Center, that Lewis and Clark encountered these same mountains. What struck us was the gorgous colors in the striations of the layers, especially the contrast between pinks and greens. We discussed it, and realized the green must be copper, which of course was the primary metal mined in Butte, which made that city so prosperous. There was a LOT of it-- our mountains certainly are worth a lot of pennies!

Colors in the rocks along the highway--green copper!

We came through the mountain area, and encountered the farmland with the river meandering through it. I still just love that kind of landscape, and once again was looking for the “perfect” combination of river and fields. In the distance we saw low mountains and lots of layers of clouds, but other than a brief sprinkle, the rain stayed away.

Missouri River

 We got to Great Falls and the Interpretive Center at about 12:45, so we had some lunch and walked Cassie along the river. We passed one “falls” on our way, which was dammed up and not hugely impressive. I couldn’t decide if that was the falls that the city was named for. The plaques on the path outside didn’t enlighten us very much either.

However, once we were inside, all questions were answered. This center was terrific! Perched on the edge of the Missouri River, this site was especially important because there was not one, but FIVE waterfalls within a few miles. As the Corps of Discovery came up the river, the Indians had told Lewis about this very large falls, but had not mentioned there were actually five of them! He was looking for one, which would reassure him that he had chosen the correct branch of the river further down and was still following the Missouri. But when he discovered there were five, there was great dismay. It was necessary for the Corps to portage around the five falls, an incredibly strenuous and difficult procedure which took them 18 days. Inside the building, there is a huge diorama two stories high, showing the process of hauling tons of equipment up steep inclines covered with sharp earth and prickly pear cactus with spines which could puncture even double-soled moccasins.

Portaging pas Great Falls (Diorama)

 I didn’t truly appreciate the diorama until I’d gone through the whole museum, though. It was extremely detailed, and by the end (I was there for over 3 hours-- Joey went back to the RV before I was done) I felt I’d been through the entire 3 years myself! The displays began with the politics and decision of the actual purchase of the Louisiana territory which doubled the size of the U.S., and with the commissioning of Lewis and then Clark to lead the expedition. We read about how they planned, decided what to take with them, and the special boat which was built for them. We learned details of all the different Indian tribes they encountered (all but one were friendly, until an unfortunate clash on their way back home.) We learned what they ate, the clothes they wore, and the details of the exploration as they moved on.

Clark was the cartographer of the group, and he created maps throughout the journey. Lewis described the animals and plants which they found, detailing over 150 each of new species previous undescribed by Europeans. All together there were 33 members of the corps plus the two leaders. Only one of them died on the trip-- historians think he may have had a burst appendix, judging by the description of his symptoms. Both leaders took copious notes, as directed by Jefferson, and several other members of the Corps also kept journals, so there is a great repository of the original observations and experiences which historians can draw on to understand the experiences they had, as well as the tribal cultures they encountered.

One of the most incredible details of the experience for me was the information about Sacagawea, the Indian wife of their French-Canadian guide. She was a Shoshone who was kidnapped as a child by the Hidatsa tribe, so she was bilingual, and became a very important member of the Corps. The Corps needed horses to get over the mountains once the river was no longer navigable, and the Shoshone were the tribe with horses. They hoped that Sacagawea could help them get horses. The Corps often split into two groups, and when Clark finally encountered the Shoshone, the chief did not trust him, and refused to sell him horses. A few days later, Lewis’s group (including Sacagawea) joined them. Sacagawea began to interpret for them, when suddenly, she realized that the chief was her brother! The entire tenor of the relationship between the tribe and the Corps changed at that moment, and the horses were acquired. Without them, the expedition most probably would have failed. In fact, as I said to Joe afterwards, if you ask me NOW, I’d have to say that the expedition couldn’t possibly succeed. And yet, they did.

View of Missouri River from Interpretive Center at Great Falls

 As I said, I spent a long time in the museum, and really learned a lot--there’s plenty about the Corps of Discovery online, so I don’t have to retell the whole story here. At about 5:30 when I rejoined Joe, we decided to continue to drive down the park road to the overlooks at the other falls. We’d learned that only one of the five is undammed, and one has disappeared (it was covered with water in the reservoir formed by the damming of the one further downriver from it.) However, to our disappointment, the dams do not let much water through. The spectacular (and difficult to pass) water which was encountered by Lewis & Clark looked sadly tamed to us. Even the Great Falls, which must have been spectacular, was very hard to access, and in the end, we settled for glimpsing it through the trees. By that time it was already 7:30ish, and we really were getting worn out. I’d have to say that after coming up here to see the Great Falls themselves, they were quite under-whelming. Whereas the Interpretive Center was fantastic and much more worthwhile than I could have guessed.

So we headed back to Great Falls (the town... the Great Falls themselves are about 15 miles downstream from the town and the State Park with the Interpretive Center.) Our choices for tonight were, one expensive private campground and two Walmarts. So for the third night (which is unusual for us!), we ended up at Walmart. We did discover a KOA just next to the Walmart, which we knew nothing about, but we still have everything we need to dry camp, although we are getting low on water, I think. Tomorrow we plan to drive up to Glacier National Park, and will definitely find a “real” campground.