Over the past five years, historians and scientists have used a variety of methods to prove the exact – upstream – location of Travelers’ Rest.Īerial infrared photography showed evidence of tepee rings. So the rivers’ confluence, not the actual campsite, is listed on the National Register. Years ago, the National Park Service incorrectly located the campsite at the confluence of Lolo Creek and the Bitterroot River, not at the bench a mile and a half up Lolo Creek where the explorers actually camped. On Sunday, chapter vice president Dale Dufour said the report is significant because it held up under peer review, so it will be useful in gaining National Historic Register designation for Travelers’ Rest State Park.
#TRAVELLERS REST STATE PARK VERIFICATION#
Hall’s report, "Travelers’ Rest National Historic Landmark: Validation and Verification of a Lewis and Clark Campsite," completes a project started in 1994 by volunteers from the Travelers’ Rest Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. They met again at the mouth of the Little Missouri and traveled together for the rest of their journey. They returned to the same campsite on June 30 and July 1, 2 and 3, 1806, to rest before heading east – toward home – in two separate parties.įrom Travelers’ Rest, Lewis headed north to the Marias River, while Clark went south to the Yellowstone. The explorers and their Corps of Discovery spent three days at Travelers’ Rest before beginning the near-fatal, 11-day crossing of the Bitterroots. Indians had used the campsite for thousands of years. With Hall’s verification, Travelers’ Rest joins Pompey’s Pillar near Billings as the only two locations along the 8,000-mile length of the Lewis and Clark Trail where physical evidence of the expedition has been found.Īn Indian guide called Toby brought Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the bench above Lolo Creek in September 1805 to prepare for their expedition’s crossing of the Bitterroot Mountains.
Hall will reveal his findings at a news conference on Feb. Lewis and Clark actually did sleep on the bunchgrass-and-cottonwood bench south of Lolo now known as Travelers’ Rest State Park.įor only the second time, historians, geologists and archaeologists have been able to document the exact location of a campsite used by the famous expedition by finding physical evidence of their stay.Ī recently completed report by Missoula archaeologist Dan Hall pinpoints the campsite called Travelers’ Rest.
"And the weather appearing settled and fair, I determined to halt the next day to rest our horses and take some celestial observations. "We continued our route down the west side of the river about five miles further and encamped on a large creek which falls in the west, as our guide informed me that we should leave the river at this place.
0 kommentar(er)
