Following Lewis and Clark…Great Falls, Montana
Friday, August 26th, 2011August 5th
After five days of intense hiking and outdoor activities in Glacier National Park, we were ready to change gears and learn about the history of the region. We visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls. Lewis and Clark were commissioned by President Jefferson to explore and map out the Missouri River watershed (much of the territory acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase from France.) At this time, it was widely believed that the Missouri reached all the way to the Pacific Ocean and would provide a river passage across the U.S. Of course Lewis and Clark discovered that this wasn’t the case and through their expedition contributed enormously to our geographical knowledge of North America. Great Falls was of special significance; it was here that they encountered great waterfalls inhibiting their river journey and forcing them to carry their supplies overland (referred to as portage) through rugged terrain. We were very impressed with the visitor center and spent several hours poring over the displays and films. (We’d like to think that had we lived in this time period, we would also have been exploring uncharted territories. Today, we just follow in others’ footsteps.) From the center, we followed a small hiking trail along the Missouri River to a beautiful freshwater spring that spills water into the river. We tried to find some of the falls- they’ve been dammed now and are used to generate electricity. I’m sure that they were much more impressive in Lewis and Clark’s day.
From Great Falls, we passed through Helena, the small, but charming capital of Montana. We stocked up on groceries and gas and made a quick stop to snap some photos of the pretty capital building. Then we drove to Deer Lodge, an old west town where we camped at the KOA for the evening.
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