Friday, May 28, 2021
*On 6/2/1805, the Corps of Discovery arrived at a confluence where it was not immediately clear which was the Missouri River. They spent five days traveling up each branch to determine the river they would follow. The decision was made based on the the clearness of the river waters that would spring from the mountains. The less clear river that likely traveled through the plains, was named Maria's River.*
 |
| Decision Point, Loma, MT: Lewis & Clark Historical Marker |
 |
Today the difference is more evident, with the Marias River
coming at the top left to join the wider Missouri River
curving down on the right with an island |
 |
| Directional sign for the Decision Point Overlook |
 |
| Our car is the black dot towards the left |
 |
| A survey marker for the Decision Point campsite (KSS) |
 |
Hmm, could those be the White Cliffs of the Missouri?
No, these are actually on the Teton River! |
There are several sites significant to Lewis and Clark that are accessible only by foot, boat, or rugged truck. Too far on foot for us.
 |
Stopped at the Fort Benton Museum of the Northern Great Plains
to see the Hornaday Smithsonian Buffalo, a group of six
Bison bison collected in 1886 by William T Hornaday for the
then National Museum in Washington, DC, taken from the last
wild herd found between the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers |
 |
The big bull was model for symbols on coins and paper
currency, the Great Seal of the Department of Interior,
postage stamps, and the National Park Service badge |
In 1955 the bison group was dismantled and sent to Montana for storage. It was not until 1996 that they were completely restored and mounted in the same positions they had in the Smithsonian.
 |
Portrait of Chief Dan George Harley Brown,
chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, who was
also an actor, seen in the films Little Big Man,
and The Outlaw Josey Wales (KSS) |
 |
| A relief of the Lewis & Clark Expedition |
 |
Aquila chrysaetos/Golden Eagle
was described by Lewis & Clark |
 |
Strand Western Art Gallery at the Museum of the
Northern Great Plains also included sculptures
by Frederic Remington; this is Mountain Man
(c 1903-1909, one of several castings) (KSS) |
 |
Emerging From a Storm (by Charles Fritz) is included here
because of a traveling art exhibition we will miss seeing:
Charles Fritz: An Artist with the Corps of Discovery,
with 100 historically accurate paintings of the expedition (KSS) |
 |
Decision at Marias River (1976, by Bob Scriver)
at Fort Benton's Lewis & Clark Memorial |
Although Bob Scriver did some research and accurately portrayed in detail the Harpers Ferry rifle, the telescope of Lewis and the compass of Clark, he did not research their outfits, putting Lewis & Clark in fringed leather clothing of frontiersmen.
 |
The view today of the Missouri River seen by
Lewis & Clark, and Sakagawea |
 |
Replica Fort Benton (original established in 1846) in
what is the oldest settlement in Montana |
 |
Leaves of the Populus deltoides/
Plains Cottonwood |
 |
Since I photographed only the head of a Pituophis catenifer sayi/
Bull Snake at the St Louis Zoo, here is picture of the whole
snake (plus a Crotalus viridis/Western Rattlesnake below) |
 |
Tamiko with an immense life-size Murphy Freight Wagon,
which transported shipments arriving by steamboat
into Fort Benton across the mountains to points in
Montana, Washington (state), and Canada |
 |
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos/American White Pelican
was also described by Lewis and Clark |
 |
Scaphirhynchus albus/Pallid Sturgeon, from the sturgeon
family that originated 70 million years ago, was
"discovered" by Lewis and Clark |
 |
The actual rifle surrendered by Chief Joseph, leader of the
Nez Perce, who refused to be removed from their ancestral lands
and fought the pursuing US Army until too tired to continue
while his people suffered with too many dead, and had no food |
 |
While not "discovered" by Lewis and Clark, they did
see Lynx rufus/Bobcats and this one is unusually posed |
 |
Centrocercus urophasianus/Greater Sage-grouse was
"discovered" by Lewis and Clark |
 |
Lepus townsendii/White-tailed Jackrabbit
was "discovered by Lewis and Clark |
 |
Lewis and Clark mentioned bats on a few occasions,
referring to them as goatsuckers, which are actually
nocturnal birds: the Nightjars |
 |
Today's lunch was from an ice cream stand that also
sold hamburgers and hotdogs |
 |
| Do four Antilocapra americana/Pronghorns comprise a herd? |
 |
| We are starting to see patches of snow on the mountains |
Next: Great Falls, MT.
No comments:
Post a Comment