In the Footsteps of Lewis and Clark: Early Commemorations and the Origins of the National Historic Trail

3: The New Explorers

77 A s Chapter 2 indicates, most of Lewis and Clark’s path from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back follows, crosses, or closely parallels the highway system that developed during the 1920s and 1930s. Easy automobile access to the trail may help account for its growing popularity; by the mid-twentieth century it began to upstage the expedition personnel in the public’s historical consciousness. Reinvigorating the historical memory of a western trail was not new, nor was associating it with a designated highway route. The Oregon Trail, for example, had become celebrated by the 1920s, largely through the efforts of Ezra Meeker. Meeker, who had come over the Oregon Trail in 1852, devoted his later years to building public recognition of its historical significance. In 1906–1907 he drove a wagon back over the route all the way to Washington, D.C., where The New Explorers C h a p t e r t h r e e 78 T h e N ew E x plorers he lobbied the government for funds to adequately mark the trail. He failed to get the funding, but his odyssey attracted attention in communities along the way, most of which were inspired to create historical markers.1 Lewis and Clark’s trail eventually attracted attention for many of the same reasons and, as we shall see, inspired similar attempts to commemorate the route through designated highways in its name. The Corps of Discovery’s 1803–1806 route and its many sites became the central “hero” of the exploration narrative. For many enthusiasts, the most inspiring and appropriate way to commemorate Lewis and Clark has been to follow in their footsteps, to personally trace as much of the route as possible while relating journal entries to segments of the countryside. Lewis and Clark aficionados go further than tourists by studying maps and attempting to pin down the locations of expedition campsites. In general, however, the practice of retracing the route is closely related to the development and effects of transportation in the West, particularly long-distance highways and automobile tourism. The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, created during the 1970s, came into being in part because tourists in automobiles became, in a sense, the new explorers of the West. The tradition of following in Lewis and Clark’s footsteps dates back to the turn of the twentieth century and Olin D. Wheeler’s twovolume book, The Trail of Lewis and Clark. In the late 1870s Wheeler served as a topographer for John Wesley Powell’s survey of the Colorado Plateau. By 1892 he had become a publicist and was named chief advertising executive for the Northern Pacific Railway, where he apparently began to view history as a way to promote tourism. Wheeler researched and wrote about the economic development the railroad sparked in the West, as well as historical lore accessible to travelers along the Northern Pacific route from Minnesota to the Pacific Coast. For example, as the author of the Northern Pacific’s annual travel magazine, Wonderland, Wheeler offered colorful narrative and descriptions of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which occurred not far south of the Northern Pacific line through southern Montana. He was next drawn to the story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition as a saga associated even more with the geography traversed by the company’s tracks.2 79 T h e N ew E x plorers To prepare a separate chapter on Lewis and Clark for the 1900 issue of Wonderland, Wheeler set out “to more particularly visit many places that were important and critical points in their exploration.” In his preface to The Trail of Lewis and Clark, Wheeler stated that one of his purposes was to show that tourists routinely failed to connect the areas through which they traveled with the explorations of Lewis and Clark. Closely relating sites and landmarks tourists visited to passages in the journals, Wheeler attempted to match them with the geographic features he encountered, the names of which had frequently changed from those the explorers assigned—in short, to connect “the exploration with the present time.” Armed with a print copy of the journals and accompanied by various photographers he engaged along the way, Wheeler spent at least four years traveling the route by train, steamboat, and horseback. Clearly, more than the promotion of tourism was at stake. Wheeler had turned into a hard...