I've always been fascinated with the Old West.
Of course, in the greater scheme of things, the Old West is not that old, compared to the Pyramids of Egypt, Ancient Rome, the days of the Bible, or even King Arthur ... and the Mayan Ruins.
But hey, by our (rather historically recent) American standards, this stuff is old ...
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In May, 1804, Lewis and Clark set out on a journey of discovery to new lands that had never been seen by descendants of the Europeans that had settled the United States. They were commissioned by then President Thomas Jefferson to explore the newly acquired lands of what was to become Western America.
Their epic trek became the thing of legend ...
They reached the Pacific Coast of Oregon in November of 1805. They did not return to "civilization" until September of 1806. They spent two and a half years crossing some of the most rugged and spectacular landscape in the world, enduring tremendous hardship.
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Well, I've been spending the last week or so covering the same ground. Only I did not endure tremendous hardship - I was driving a Toyota Prius Hybrid rental car at speeds up to 85 miles an hour ... but I digress.
After leaving the Yellowstone, I dropped off my son Lewis for his return home by airplane from Billings Montana. Before he departed, we visited the nearby battlefield of Custer's Last Stand, in the Little Bighorn Valley. That particular episode of American history probably deserves its own blog post, but it's not the point of this story.
Later that same day, near sundown, I made a trip to another iconic spot - Pompey's Pillar. This is a little known historically important place, where William Clark (of "Lewis and Clark") carved his initials into a significant rock formation that is the only surviving testimony of the their trip through that remote region.
Even today, that part of the West occupies space among the wide open regions of our imagination. It's a long way from anywhere, except maybe from Billings, Montana which .. frankly, is also a long way from anywhere.
As evidence of its somewhat unknown location, I've been to Billings many times over the years, and this was the first time I've ever laid eyes on this place.
Using a reference to modern times, it's not far from the the Interstate 90 freeway that runs across the northern US to the Dakotas and eventually Minnesota, Chicago, and ultimately ... the Atlantic Ocean.
As mentioned earlier, I arrived in the afternoon of a summer day - July 1st, in the brilliant light of a western sunset. I was struck by the singular feature of this rock, which stands alone on the banks of the Yellowstone River.
It is sometimes surprising to find a compelling major historical site that nobody knows about.
This location was visited by William Clark on July 25, 1806 - and how do we know this?
Because he carved his name in the rock.
Apparently this rock was an important place for the indigenous native American Indians, who had been here for a couple thousand years before "white men" showed up. And there were numerous rock carvings (known as Petroglyphs) on this out-cropping, so what did Mr Clark do? He added his name to the collection.
And it still exists. To this day, it is the only verifiable and visible surviving evidence of their passing through this area - 212 years ago!
I don't know about you, but I find this kind of thing fascinating, especially being there in person and trying to absorb the remote nature of the location - and framing it in the modern time we live in.
In fact, it's now a National Monument, and the intent is to preserve this location well into the future. In the last few years, they've added a fancy visitor center.
Without a doubt, it is a tremendously commendable achievement that these intrepid explorers risked life and limb to traverse the wild unknown lands that have become the Western United States.
And it seems ironic to me that I make this statement (and blog post) on such a day as this, the 4th of July, which celebrates the birth of our nation.
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