History group learns about Lewis & Clark
Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 5 years, 4 months AGO
The Northwest Montana Posse of Westerners history organization meets Monday, Aug. 17. Hal Stearns of Helena will present “Lewis & Clark Expedition: Westward Ho, Saint Louis to Travelers’ Rest — 1804 to 1805.”
Shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery to explore and to map the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase territory. The expedition, led by Capt. Meriwether Lewis, set out in May 1804 from Camp Dubois (Camp Wood) with 45 members including military officers and enlisted personnel, civilian volunteers, and one African-American slave named York. Stearns’ presentation covers their westward journey up the Missouri River system from St. Louis, past the Great Falls and the Three Forks of the Missouri River to a campsite known as Travelers’ Rest in present-day Lolo in early September of 1805.
Stearns has had a distinguished career as an educator, researcher, historian, writer and lecturer, and as a brigadier general in the Montana Army National Guard. He is a member of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation board and the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission in Montana.
The meeting will be held at the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell, starting at 5:15 p.m. for a grab ’n’ greet session and book signings by local authors. Dinner is at 6 p.m. Reservations are required and a $19, which includes the presentation. The presentation is at 7 p.m., which is free for members, youths under 16, and non-members with dinner reservations. Non-members may attend at a cost of $5, which does not include the dinner. Call 406-752-9642 (Leave a message with names and phone number); or send an email to [email protected] with the same information. Maximum COVID-19 virus protections will be in place (see website for details). All attendees must have been in the state of Montana for not less than 14 days.
The Posse’s mission is to encourage and promote interest in, research in, and archiving of the history of the American West, particularly Northwest Montana.