Mileage: 5.3; 1,897 total
As planned, I took the day off so that I would be able to tour both the local Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and the reconstruction of Fort Mandan. Plus, I needed a day of rest....and of course I wanted to take the day off in observance of Larissa's (my daughter's) birthday!
Washburn is a small town but it had just what I needed: a little library so that I could catch up on emails and blogging, and a good restaurant.
This area is where Lewis & Clark and their Corps of Discovery spent their first winter and, in doing so in harsh winter condtions, grew into a cohesive military team of explorers. The L&C Interpretive Center was very nicely laid out, giving a good overview of the entire exploration as well as focusing somewhat on their winter here, getting to know and being helped by the Mandan indians. The Mandans were a relatively wealthy, farming tribe, and their large village(s) here on the Missouri River formed a major trading center for tribes from hundreds of miles around, as well as for British and French fur traders coming down from Canada.
The Interpretive Center also had an extensive collection of prints of artwork by Karl Bodner, a Swiss artist who came west in the 1830s. I liked them.
The original Fort Mandan, which the expedition constructed for their first winter, had actually burned down by the time the expedition returned, a year later, from the west coast. Its location is now under the Missouri River. The reconstructed fort, put up about 35 years ago, is about 8 miles from the original location. It seems to be a very authentic reproduction, and was certainly interesting to see.
As so often happens, the people I meet are just as interesting as the places I'm visiting. One of the other tourists at Ft. Mandan was from Winnipeg, and was on a trip visiting places that his great-great-great.....grandfather, a French Canadian fur trader/explorer, had "explored" in the 1700s. This explorer, Pierre Gaultier, had traded with the local Mandan indians in 1738, more than 65 years before Lewis & Clark came along! I wasn't familiar with Pierre Gaultier, but he was apparently one of Canada's most illustrious explorers, and there has been a lot written about him. Google "Pierre Gaultier" for more information.
In addition, I had the pleasure to meet Pat O'Bryan (yes, Greg B., Ken C., and other fans of the Patrick O'Brien series, that is his name). Pat has been taking an auto trip, and gave me a lift from the Interpretive Center to Ft. Mandan and back, so that I could avoid four miles of bicycling in the heat of the day. I didn't have too much time to talk with him on the short car rides, but he is a bright, interesting, adventurous guy. He once decided that it would be fun to play a round of golf on the golf courses in the world that are: furthest north (in Iceland); furthest south (New Zealand); furthest west (Hawaii); furthest east (Fuji); highest altitude (La Paz, Bolivia); and lowest altitude (Death Valley). So he rounded up three friends to complete the foursome, and they played these courses within a two-week period, logging over 100,000 air miles! Their feat was written up in Golf Digest (or maybe it was another golf magazine?) .
Pat's story reminded me of a puzzle (as so many things do), and I asked him if could identify the states that are the furthest north, south, east, and west. He stuggled with this a little, but correctly named them all. He is one of the very few people I have asked who have figured this out correctly.
A photo of Pat appears below, followed by a photo of Ft. Mandan.
No comments:
Post a Comment