Couple retraces steps of famous expedition
A Slippery Rock couple retraced the route of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition last fall, leaving from St. Louis and arriving in Astoria, Ore.
Of course, Jessie and Jim McMenamin rode on buses and completed the trip to the West Coast in 18 days. The original explorers traveled by keel boat, horse and on foot and took two years and four months to map the Louisiana Purchase, establish relations with Indian tribes and bring back samples of plant and animal life.
The McMenamins attended lectures on the Lewis and Clark journey during their trip and gained a greater appreciation of the two explorers' accomplishments.
Jessie McMenamin, a retired school teacher and guidance counselor with the Slippery Rock Area School District, and her husband, Jim, a retired Slippery Rock police officer, set off from St. Louis on Sept. 22, the same jumping-off spot for Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their Corps of Discovery group.
Jim McMenamin said they booked their trip through Road Scholar.
“It's for the 50-plus age group. It has a strong educational component. For example, you might get a lecture on a local cuisine, and then the tour will take you to that restaurant,” he said.
Jessie McMenamin said, “I found out about it through my sister. It used to be called Elder Hostel.”
“We began to go on them. The domestic tours are very affordable. You meet great people and they make all the arrangements,” she said.
“The Lewis and Clark trip did not disappoint. We had a historian with us every day. We had other presenters and experts on different aspects of the Lewis and Clark expedition,” she said.
The McMenamins said the bus tour tried to keep the route as realistic as possible traveling from point to point along the 4,000-mile trail just as Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery.
The tour would stop at the known campsites and river crossings of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Jessie McMenamin said, “The scenery was unbelievable. We traveled all the way through rivers, plains, then the mountains and then you are going over to the coast.
“There were so many different landscapes,” she said.
Jim McMenamin said, “My favorite stop was at Pompey's Pillar along the Yellow River (in Montana.)“Clark etched his name and date on the side of this mountain. It is the only inscription that was confirmed to be from the expedition,” he said.The McMenamins said the expedition's famed Indian guide Sacagawea's baby son was nicknamed Pompey by Clark.They learned Lewis and Clark met with Sacagawea and her husband Toussaint Charbonneau, a Quebecois trapper, when the Americans wintered near native American villages in South Dakota in 1804-05.Sacagawea and Charbonneau were hired as guides and interpreters who accompanied the expedition in the spring even though Sacagawea was pregnant.Jesse McMenamin said she gained a new appreciation for Sacagawea during their trip. She learned she was an integral and vital member of the corps.Her diplomatic skills helped smooth the way for Lewis and Clark with the Native American tribes they met on their journey.And, she added, because Sacagawea had been captured from her Shoshone tribe by Hidatsa warriors years before, as the party neared Shoshone territory she recognized many landmarks.Finding her brother was chief of the Shoshones, Jessie McMenamin said, must have made it easier for Sacagawea to negotiate with the tribe for horses for the Americans' next leg of the trip.In their travel west, the McMenamins learned many interesting facts about Lewis and Clark.
For instance, the keel boat the expedition used to travel up the Missouri River had been made in Pittsburgh and floated down to St. Louis.Another addition Lewis and Clark picked up in Pittsburgh was a Newfoundland dog named Seaman, that Lewis bought for $20 while he was in the city awaiting completion of the boats for the voyage in August 1803.Seaman's final fate is unknown but he is believed to be the only animal to complete the entire expedition.They learned Lewis was a friend of Thomas Jefferson who, in preparation for the trip, sent Lewis to Philadelphia to study geology before naming him leader of the expedition with William Clark as his second-in-command.They also learned that the expedition was a military one. The Corps of Discovery was an especially established unit of the United States Army and disciple for infractions such as stealing whiskey could be harsh.The discipline and the training must have paid off. Lewis and Clark lost only one member of their expedition, a sergeant who died of appendicitis, said Jessie McMenamin.
And using only instruments such as sextants, Lewis and Clark were able to split the party and meet back up without incident and hide caches of food and supplies and find them again on their return trip.Jessie McMenamin said, “It's amazing how, with no computers, no GPS, no knowledge of the land they were going into, they were able to plot and chart and retrace their steps on the way back.”Her husband said, “In my opinion, I'm not a history person. I knew of the trip in thumbnail. It was mind-boggling the complexity and intensity of their trip.”In addition to gaining a knowledge of the native American groups Lewis and Clark encountered, Jessie McMenamin said, “I was surprised how many new plants and animals they documented on their trip.The McMenamins, who said they like to travel, said the Road Scholar tour along the Lewis and Clark route was amazing.Jessie McMenamin said, “I encourage people to be as enthusiastic about history as I am.”
