And Yet Another Surprise!

I'm tellin' ya' folks, you gotta get outta your house, outta the airplanes, get in your cars and stay off of the Interstates!  Here we are just a few miles down the road from tinsy-tiny Buffalo, South Dakota and we find...

Notice in fine print at the top of the sign, "The True..."

Apparently there is a fancy monument a bit further down the road, just north of Belle Fourche, South Dakota marking the "Center of the Nation."  But it's apparently not the TRUE center.  (I'd bet there's a story there somewhere, but I don't know who to ask about it.)
 

Now, when I open the road atlas and locate Belle Fourche, South Dakota, I don't see it as being the "center" of the nation. There seems to be several places that claim that, like Lebanon, Kansas. There is a reason, though, for all of the confusion. 

The geographic center of the contiguous (lower) 48 states is about four miles west of Lebanon, Kansas, at 98°35' West 39°50' North.  That's pretty much on the Kansas - Nebraska border.  You're not gonna believe the "scientific" way that was originally determined:  In 1918 the Coast and Geodetic Survey people made a cardboard cutout of the contiguous 48 states, balanced it on a pin and - there it was!  Believe it or not, when they really got scientific and used modern GPS kinda stuff, they were only off by about 20 miles.  Amazing.

In 1959, with the addition of Hawai'i and Alaska to the United States, the geographic center of the entire United States did move to the South Dakota location. 

Having said that, the Geodetic Survey no longer endorses any location as the center of the U.S. (because of changing coastlines), so - take your pick.  The one in Kansas has a wedding chapel next to it, though, and a picnic table...  but the Hawaiians and Alaskans might take exception to your counting them out.

South Dakota

 At sunrise, as we head into South Dakota, we begin to see hills.

 We begin to see serious wildlife for the first time since leaving Texas.

We've never seen pheasants in the wild before, so this is really cool!

This will be the second time John has ever seen an eagle in the wild.  It did the same thing the other one did - took off, did a fly around, and came back to pose for a few more photo ops!  I like the rosy dawn color of the sky.

 The American Plains - where the deer and the antelope play...

Almost feels like home!

Buffalo, South Dakota

So, here we are, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and Granpa has to respond to the call of nature, has to go see a man about a horse, (needs to take a leak!)  We think we've found a place in this tinsy-tiny town called Buffalo.  Well, we did - but it was padlocked!  However, guess what we did find?  Another jewel that you would never ever hear about in a brochure.  If Granpa hadn't had to "go" we would have whizzed right through here and missed the awesomeness of this.

If you ask me, small town America is alive and well - you just have to get off of the Interstates to find it!  This town of Buffalo, South Dakota was name for a buffalo wallow - a place where the buffalo will rub, roll, and - well - wallow.  Corbin Conroy of Custer, South Dakota designed this buffalo.  On
its side is depicted, within a tipi, the Bison Society as a circle of bison protecting the herd, while the Lakota Warrior Society is shown around the tipi protecting the family and tribe.

On the other side is a design to honor veterans and warriors as well as the buffalo culture:

There was also this cute lil' guy:

And there are interpretive signs about the Homesteaders, the Medora-Deadwood Stage Line, nearby Ludlow Cave which Custer explored and named after one of his men during Custer's Black Hills Expedition of 1874, a sign reporting on that expedition, another discussing a "bizarre" battle between the Crow and Sioux Indians in 1822, and yet another detailing General Crook's "Starvation March" after Custer's  battle of the Little Big Horn.

Have any of my older readers ever heard of Tex Fletcher, the "Singing Cowboy?"  I always thought the singing cowboy was Gene Autry - but apparently not.  There's an interpretive sign here about this guy - because he lived here!  His real name was Geremino "Jerry" Bisceglia, born in January, 1909 in Harrison, New York. (HEY!  Grandaddy Jim was born in New York in 1908.)  Tex Fletcher (let's see, he was born in New York, grew up in Buffalo, South Dakota, but he was named "Tex," hmmmm.)  Anyway,  Tex was even featured in Ripley's "Believe it or Not" because of his ability to recall from memory more than 4,000 songs!  Wowser!  He died in 1987 back in New York.

Another interpretive sign discusses Harding County (which is where Buffalo is located.)  (No, kids, Granma Jo was born in Harden County - and that was in Texas.) It talks about palaeontologists having found the bones of of tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops, and "various other fossils."  Also, the living game in the area are deer, antelope, pheasants (as we can testify to) as well as coyotes, fox, badgers, raccoons, prairie dogs, rabbits, and occasional mountain lions.  They even have a photo of the first Harding County officials:

Did you know that it is said men wore those big ol' mustaches back then to hide their bad teeth - or the fact that they had no teeth?  Guess they didn't have flouride and AquaFresh back then, huh?  Notice that they nearly all had mustaches.  (Man, the things you kids take for granted these days...)

And, last but not least, an interpretive sign about Tipperary, the bucking bronc that threw ninety-one cowboys including two champion saddle bronc riders!  He lived from 1905 to 1932 (when he died in the blizzard of '32) and had songs written about him.  He was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage in 1976 and into the PRCA ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979.

But let's not forget ol' Three Toes, the wolf!  It's estimated that between 1909 and 1925 he killed over $50,000 worth of livestock. ($250,000 in today's dollars!)  He lost toes in a wolf trap, and that forevermore marked his path of death, left an unmistakable trail.  However, this wily ol' wolf  took to stampeding sheep in order to obliterate his escape trail.  It's said that one time he hid in the carcass of an old horse and another time leaped across a 30-foot wide chasm to escape pursuing dogs and men.  His story is worth reading - but to get it all, YOU will have to go to Buffalo, South Dakota!

All of that, and Granpa still has to pee!

Lewis and Clark Commemorative Rifle

This post is for our sons and their families:

Lewis & Clark Bicentennial

Harpers Ferry 1803 commemorative Rifle

On Loan from Al Christianson, Chairman

North Dakota Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Foundation

 Just for our sons to appreciate!

Now we're headed to South Dakota.  I've never seen Mount Rushmore and Granpa is determined to get me to see the President's heads no matter what!  I'm sure we will cross paths with Lewis & Clark again some day...

Fort Mandan - Winter Quarters for the Corps of Discovery

The original fort is now underwater and in the middle of the ever-changing river channel.  This fort was constructed over 40 years ago, in 1972, by the McLean County Historical Society.

Is that a beautiful blue sky, or what?!

I am so-o-o-o glad we were here in the winter time!  EV-eryone else comes in the summertime - but that's not when Lewis and Clark were here.  Hard to get a "feel" for what it would have been like to spend a winter here if it's 95 degrees out...

The fort's not too impressive from the outside, but it certainly is from the inside.  I'll show you a couple of pictures, but each and every room is loaded with artifacts and period pieces - utterly amazing stuff!

Fort Mandan is not only where the Corps of Discovery wintered in 1804-05, but it is where Sacajawea gave birth to her son.  That son, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau (but known as Pompy) was ultimately adopted by Captain Clark along with Pompy's sister, Lisette, after Sacajawea died on December 22, 1812.

The fort was built in a triangular shape with officers and the Charbonneau's on the right and enlisted men, etc. on the left.  York's blacksmith's shop was also on the right.  Having a blacksmith along saved their bacon in more ways than one!

Lewis and Clark's Quarters

I'm not thinkin' that satchel under the bed nor the boots were Lewis's for real.  If he carried those things, maybe, but if he wore those boots and walked from St. Louis to Fort Mandan, those wouldn't be lookin' so spiffy.  Remember a few posts back I mentioned the gi-normous hat Lewis hauled on this trip?  There's a replica at the foot of the bed.  This photo doesn't do it justice; it's almost as long and the bed is wide!  It's a must-see in person.

These instruments are like those Lewis and Clark - not the Corps, but Lewis and Clark themselves - would have used to create the first maps ever drawn of the American northwest!  Now that is super cool!  The readings recorded cemented the United States' possession of the Louisiana Territory forevermore.  Woohoo!!

Charbonneau actually had two wives, hence their quarters had a double bed and a single - either that or Sacajawea was a bit too pregnant to share a bed with her hubby.  Is that a skunk hide on the wall? or a badger, maybe?  Since he made his living as a fur trapper you can bet the walls were covered in furs for sale - not to mention the myriad other things they used furs for!

I'd wrap one of those furs around my neck in a heart beat!

In the course of their journey Lewis traded "one uniform laced coat, one silver epaulet, one dirk (long, straight-bladed dagger) and belt, one hanger (small sword used by seamen) and belt, one pistol and one fowling piece," valued at $135 in the currency of the day to the Clatsop Indians "in exchange for a canoe, horses etc,..."  Today, that would be at least $2,700.  Yikes!!

Seaman, the Newfoundland

Seaman is the dog that Merriwether Lewis bought to take along on the journey west.  He was a Newfoundland.  They got their name because they found their way, by human intervention, to the coast of Newfoundland, and they evolved in a way that made them particularly suited to the island.  Newfoundlands are a very large breed of dog, averaging 28" high and up to 150 pounds for the males.  Now they have a very heavy coat which protects them from the harsh Newfoundland winters and icy waters surrounding the island.  They even have large strong, webbed feet, powerful hindquarters and large lung capacity that allow them to swim large distances.

And a mighty big dog was Seaman!  (This guy would have suited Paul Bunyan perfectly!)

Those might have been be the traits Lewis was looking for - or maybe he wanted him for his impressive size in order to get the attention of the Indians.  Regardless of the reason, he paid a pretty price for him - $20!  ($1 in 1803 currency would buy over $20 worth of goods today, so Lewis, in today's dollars, paid over $400.00 for Seaman!  Wowser!)  Seaman is mentioned in Lewis's journals as early as August 30, 1803 before his departure from Pittsburgh.  Notations about him appear in many of the Corps' journals throughout the trip.

November 16, 1803:  One of the Shawnees a respectable looking Indian offered me three beverskins for my dog with which he appeared much pleased...

April 25, 1805:  We set out at an early hour.  The water friezed on the oars this morning as the men rowed...my dog had been absent during the last night, and I was fearful we had lost him altogether, however, much to my satisfaction he joined us at 8 o'clock this morning."

May 19, 1805:   One of the party wounded a beaver, and my dog as usual swam in to catch it; the beaver bit him through the hind leg and cut the artery; it was with great difficulty that I could stop the blood; I fear it will yet prove fatal to him."  (It wasn't - 10 days later he was on guard duty!)

August 17, 1805:  Every article about us appeared to excite astonishment in their (the Lemhi Shoshoni at Camp Fortunate) minds; the appearance of the men, their arms, the canoes, our manner of working them, the black man York and the segacity of my dog.

July 5:  On the return trip, Lewis named a creek for Seaman.   saw two swan in this beautiful creek and proceeded on 3 miles to the entrance of a large creek 20 yards wide which I called Seaman's Creek.

Recent evidence uncovered by historians suggests that Seaman grieved himself to death on Captain Lewis's grave, who died at Grinders Inn on the Natchez Trace which was the path folks used to walk or ride back on from New Orleans after having floated a load of goods down the Mississippi River.

The End(s)

Museums and Interpretive Centers

There are so-o-o-o many reasons to go to your local museums!  They always surprise Granpa and I with beauty and information and facts we don't seem to find anywhere else - even after all the places we've been and all the reading we do.  They have things about the common man that don't show up in encyclopedias or on the internet...  There is art work and period pieces and stories about times past.  There is life!

These pieces are not done justice in Granpa's photos.  The one on the left has warpaint on his arms but also on his face.  The other one is holding a tomahawk of devastating shape.  I think I'd rather be shot than clubbed with that.  Look at his leggings.  The amount of detail these artists go to is impressive in itself.

 

                                                                                                      Quoting from the actual journals from the Lewis and Clark expedition, this says:  Wah-Menitu  "Among them was a Teton, named Wah-Menitu (The Spirit in the Water), who had such a voracious appetite that he devoured everything which the others had left; his face was painted red; he had a remarkably projecting upper lip, and an aquiline nose much bent.  In his hair, which hung in disorder about his head, with a plain coming over one of his eyes or nose, the feather of a bird of prey was placed horizontally; but observe that he had a right to wear three.  Mr. Bodmer, who desired to draw this man's portrait, gave him some vermilion, on which he spat, and rubbed his face with it, drawing parallel lines, in the red colour, with a wooden stick.  Wah-Menitu stayed on board for the night; sung, talked, laughed, and joked without ceasing; and seemed quite to enjoy himself."

 Outside, this is exactly what the Corps of Discovery would have seen during their winter here.  This path would have led from the Indian village to their winter fort.  How more real can it get??

Please.  If there is a museum in your area, please go to it - go to all of them.  Take your children, make it a habit for them.  Just in our area of Arp, Texas there is the Oil Museum in Kilgore with an entire 1930's downtown area as well as an explanation of oil drilling, the New London Museum - a memorial to those children who lost their lives when their new school exploded from an odorless natural gas leak - which resulted in an odor of rotten eggs being added to natural gas so we can be alerted to a leak.  It tells the story of how Trinity Mother Frances Hospital wasn't supposed to open for months yet, but they opened their doors without fanfare to take in children wounded in the blast.  There's the Discovery Science Centers dedicated to enlightening children through having fun touching and doing.  There's an old Civil War camp where Union soldiers were held, antebellum homes to tour, and the Azalea District with historical homes and brick streets. In about a month those azalea's will be in bloom - and the internationally famous Tyler Rose Garden, too.  There's a Historical Society you might want to become a member of.

Winter, summer, spring or fall these places are open for you to grow in your knowledge of people, places and things.  Please go.  Take friends and family.  These places help us to never forget.

Prairie Dogs

Not only did the Corps of Discovery have barrels of things to transport, but as they went along, they began to acquire critters that no white man had encountered before.  They encountered 174 plants and 134 species and subspecies of animals new to science.  I found a really cool list at this website:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/resources_discoveries_animal.html

The one that they had the most difficulty describing was the Prairie Dog, so they spent a whole day capturing one and ultimately sent it back to Thomas Jefferson in Washington!

For those of you who have never seen a prairie dog, they live in colonies, dig their homes in the ground, add a series of connecting tunnels, and are fast as lightening.  They have a little bark or yip like a small dog.  If you ever played the game "Whack a Mole" then you know what a prairie dog town looks like, with them popping their heads out of the holes all over the place and are so fast that you can't "whack" 'em.  We have prairie dog towns in west Texas - and all over middle America where the prairies are vast.

In the picture, the box is sitting on a bundle.  That's also how the Corps transported things.  The cloth is oil skin and was used to protect things from getting wet as they spent literally years on boats in the water.  These also had to be hefted onto shoulders whenever a portage was required. 

What To Take With

Not us!  What should Lewis and Clark take?  They actually took a full size steel stove (which quickly ruined and is probably still sitting on the banks of the Missouri somewhere between St. Louis and the Mandan village...)

But HOW they took it is a story in itself.  Of course they started on a keel boat, but what do you know about such things back then?  Sure the boat was loaded with everything they had decided they needed, but what if the boat got stuck on a snag or the water was down and they got stuck on a sand bar.  It wasn't motorized.  The only thing they could do was unload cargo until the boat was light enough to let go of the snag or sand bar.  A lot of work!

But what happened when they came to a waterfall?  or the end of the waterway altogether?  They had to unload the boat and manhandle everything past the problem - including the boat!!

Well, what did they have to carry?  How about these boogers - loaded with whatever:

Tobacco twists -  remember our blog post from Virginia? - tobacco leaves twisted into "carrots" for shipment and storage.  Tobacco was one of the most asked-for trade items by Indians and fur trappers alike.

Straw was used for packing - but they definitely used as little as possible in order to get as much product as possible in those barrels.  They would hoist these, what? 50-gallon barrels? 100 gallon? onto their shoulders and clamber up and down banks and mountains and rocks until they were past the problem, and then have to reload everything and re-lash it down.  These guys must have been the forerunners of today's Navy SEALs!!

Trade goods for the Indians was priceless.  It could mean life or death.  It was used to get those horses I was talking about earlier - with the help of Sacagawea.  But how much would a barrel of beads weigh?  Wow.  Or flour? or sugar? or more importantly, salt?  Mercy me!

No, this isn't the Rocky Mountains  This is looking into the Grand Canyon of the Pacific on Kauai - taken August 2, 2010  Nice picture, and I'd bet those guys would be glad they were hiking the Rockies instead of trying to get through THIS canyon!

Sacagawea is a Bonus

It was the winter stay of 1804-05 when God's biggest blessing came upon the Corps of Discovery.  It was then that Lewis and Clark decided to hire Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trader who lived with the Hidatsa.  The Corps needed an interpreter.  The solution to the language problem wasn't optimal, but this is how it would work for the rest of their journey.

Lewis or Clark (or whomever) would say something in English.
A crew member, Drouillard would translate it into French for Charbonneau.
Charbonneau would translate it into Hidatsa for Sacagawea.
Sacagawea could then translate it in words and sign that the different tribal Indian Chiefs could understand.

Then, of course, the whole process would go in reverse for Lewis and Clark to response back.  Whew.  Sounds like the telephone game we used to play as kids where one whispers to another who whispers to another, etc.  Inevitably the message at the end rarely resembled what began.  But then, we were but children and known to intentionally mess it up.  This was deadly work Lewis and Clark were up to.  Or maybe I should say death-defying.

Wasn't it nice of Sacagawea to let me try on her buffalo robe?  We meet the nicest people in our travels!

God's blessing was in Charbonneau's wife, Sacagawea.  She was only 15 year old and six months pregnant.  Their soon-to-be-born son, Jean Baptiste, was a blessing, too.  With a woman and child along with them there would be less of a chance to be mistaken for a war party.  (Isn't it just like a man to call a group of themselves, who go off to behave like they were from Mars, a "party"!!!)

Even more than that, when the Corps desperately needed horses and there were seemingly none to be found, they happen upon an Indian settlement.  During discussions to acquire some horses, Sacagawea suddenly recognizes, amongst the chiefs gathered there, a long lost brother!  Actually, she was the one who had been lost for four years.  She was taken captive by a different tribe.

After that it was all hugs and kisses, and the Corps got their horses!  (They needed horses because they ran out of a navigable waterway, proving forevermore that there was no usable water passage to the Pacific Ocean.)
 

The Pacific Ocean - as seen from Kauai! 

So Funny !

Folks are emailing me and sending me comments through the blog that I need to get on with telling about Kauai.  Hold your horses, hold your horses, now.  I'm writing this as a web log of our travels.  I don't want to skip anything, and Hawai'i isn't going anywhere.  Besides, we're still working out kinks in our new digs and settling in.  We won't have a rent car until today - and then only guaranteed a week.  So, there's not much to talk about.

I'll get to Hawai'i in a few days.  Until then, go back and re-read or pick out some posts that you haven't read before.  Or, if you are REALLY bored, scroll all the way to the very beginning of our blog, some 400 posts ago, and begin reading a bit about our last stay on the island of Kauai.

Aloha and mahalo!
(Love and thank you in Hawaiian.)

Picture taken September 22, 2010 from the top of Waimea Canyon

Buffalo John

There he goes again!  I just can't take him anywhere!  

Wow, this buffalo hide / rug / blanket / whatever is super, super soft on the inside!  The leather is almost like suede.  And the fur on the outside is really, really nice!  I understand now how it could be neat to snuggle up with one in a North Dakota winter!  And just think, when it got dirty, all they had to do was go kill another buffalo.  That's better than Wal-Mart.  Those guys didn't even have to buy guns or bullets - just make some arrows and take off for the buffalo fields!

Maybe he's just warmin' up before he goes to help that guy build a dug-out canoe?

"Hey," he says, "I'm just a tourist here."

ND Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center

Sculpture by Tom Neary of  Washburn, North Dakota

This is a privately owned location and needs your support, so I do hope you find your way here at some point in time.  Down the road a piece they have a reconstruction of Lewis and Clark's winter fort - included in their $7 price - that I thought was even more interesting, but I'll get to it in a day or two...

On November 1st, 1804, as winter closed in on the Corps of Discovery, the Mandan chief Sheheke-shote told them that they were welcome to lodge in the neighborhood over the winter and, "If we eat, you shall eat, if we starve, you must starve also."  I believe that's like the Three Musketeers:  All for one, and one for all.  Sure, the Corps could hunt and provide its own meat, but life with the Mandans promised a share of their vegetables like corns, beans and squash.  That is something men on the move simply cannot acquire without the generosity of others willing to share.

Come Spring the men of the Corps would find themselves healthy and ready to challenge those mountain ranges.  However, throughout the winter months, Lewis and Clark not only socialized with the Mandan and Hidatsa, but they studied them as Thomas Jefferson had instructed them to do.

April 7, 1805 saw them on their way.

The folks on site told us this was a touchy feely kind of interpretive center, so feel free to touch and feel.

I'm busy studying all of the interpretive things, and I look over to find Granpa, well, being Granpa:

Not to be an ol' stick in the mud - which I am when it comes to doing things like this - (My momma must have busted my behind somewhere in my wicked, wicked childhood, for touching things, because I surely do get squeamish when I do...)  But there you have me, all furred out.

Notice the painting of Lewis in the background with a different big hat on.  Outside, the statue has the hat turned sideways, here it seems to be pointing front to back.  Hmmm.  No explanations that I can find.  Over at the Fort they have a hat like that.  IT IS GI-NORMOUS!!  With such limited space on the voyage, they had to have felt pomp and circumstance was of paramount importance.  Well, after all, they would be meeting with the heads of state of all the Indian nations along the way...

Back in North Dakota...

I said I would fill everyone in on getting to Kauai, and then go back to our trip from North Dakota to Texas...

Granpa's last day at Altru in Grand Forks, North Dakota, February 16th, was a Friday.  Saturday morning we hopped in the van and headed home by way of Fort Mandan in the eastern part of North Dakota.  We had been taking a class on Lewis and Clark at the University of North Dakota through their OLLI program.  Granpa was determined to get to Fort Mandan, where Lewis and Clark spent their first winter in 1804-05.

It was Interstate all the way, (for us, not Lewis and Clark!) and so the roads were no worry.  I text Granpa's mother, Granny Beth, as we travel, so that she doesn't worry.  She thanks me all the time; says it makes her feel like she's right there with us.  The bonus is, I have a log of our travel times, places, and things we do.  Funny how, when you do something for someone else, God always has a blessing in it for you!

So it'll will be about an hour's drive south to Fargo, then west about four hours to Bismarck.  The roads were clear and, when the sun came up, so were the skies.  From Bismarck then, it's north to Fort Mandan.

There's a beautiful new Lewis and Clark Museum there.  I knew these folks were larger than life to us, but this is a bit much.

It's so nice when I find someone that makes me feel smaller than my rotund lil' ol' self...

These are beautifully crafted pieces of art.  I'm honored when I imagine them standing for all time for America, representing Lewis and Clark, in circumstances much like the first astronauts on the moon.

Both teams had consciously chosen to go into the unknown without much recourse than to go forward.  Lewis and Clark knew that if they went far enough they would find the Pacific Ocean. Sure, fur trappers had wandered around east of the Rocky Mountains, and almost every international power had sailed - and landed - up and down the west coast.  It was what was in between those points that was the great unknown (to white man anyway).  If Lewis and Clark had known that those mountain ranges would go on and on and on - and on even more - they probably would have never attempted this search for a navigable waterway across America.

However, once President Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase on behalf of America, to actually lay claim to it, an American had to impose the Right of Discovery by walking, paddling, or riding across it - and publish something about the journey.  So these intrepid explorers would have gone regardless of the hazards of the unknown just like America's first men on the moon, Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin in 1969.

Wow!  Think about that!  In just 166 years we went from literally struggling to walk across the earth to walking on the MOON!  Thank you, President John F. Kennedy, for saying and believing that Americans do it not because its easy, but because it is hard.  I love our "can do" spirit!

Think about this, too.  America was the first to impose the Right of Discovery on THE MOON!  They planted the ol' red, white, and blue, documented every single step and published it - in real time! - for all the world to see.

  Woohoo!