Crowds coming to Montana for Lewis & Clark

Five years ago, historian Stephen Ambrose warned a Billings audience to prepare for an onslaught of tourists with the approaching bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

"Get yourself ready," said Ambrose, author of "Undaunted Courage," the best-selling history of the Corps of Discovery’s monumental journey. "Because they’re coming."

200-year anniversary Early last week a group of middle-aged re-enactors marked the 200-year anniversary of Lewis and Clark’s arrival in Montana when they moored a pair of 40-foot pirogues on the Missouri River near the Highway 16 bridge just south of Culbertson. The Lewis and Clark Discovery Expedition of St. Charles had left Fort Mandan, N.D., on April 7. I discussed Ambrose’s bold prediction with Gazette photographer Jim Woodcock during our 4½-hour drive between Billings and Culbertson on Wednesday morning. Driving between Sidney and Culbertson, we half-expected to encounter marching bands, a sea of motor homes and hawkers selling coonskin hats and commemorative Lewis and Clark medals made in Hong Kong. Instead, we found expedition members huddling in their tents, snacking on homemade bread and chocolate chip cookies that locals delivered earlier in the day. A handful of local visitors stopped by to snap pictures. Inevitably, the conversation turned to the weather. "It sure wants to blow today," a local farmer observed. But given the time of year and the weather conditions, surely Ambrose wouldn’t have been surprised by the subdued reception.

Tom Howard
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/05/03/build/state/35-rptrs-ntbk.inc