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Reviews
Lewis and Clark on the Great Plains: A Natural History
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By Paul A. Johnsgard
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University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2004. Illustrations, maps, index. 156 pages. $14.95 paper.
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Reviewed by Rhoda Love
Eugene, Oregon
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| I am Delighted with Professor Emeritus Paul Johnsgard's book on the natural history of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I confess that before I turned the first page, I was not sure we needed another bicentennial volume about the Corps of Discovery. As I became immersed in the fascinating text and delightful drawings, however, I realized that the author-artist is not only an expert but a true devotee of the birds, mammals, landforms, and history of his region. I heartily recommend this up-to-the-moment, information-rich paperback guide to the animals and plants of the Great Plains as first seen and described by Lewis and Clark in 1804–1806. |
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The work is composed of five sections, the first of which places the expedition in its historic and geographic framework and defines the parameters of the book. Johnsgard defines the Great Plains as encompassing the Missouri Valley between the current Missouri–Kansas border and the vicinity of Three Forks, Montana. In their traverse of this area, the Corps of Discovery collected or described at least twenty new species of plants, around seven previously unknown mammals, and at least five new species of birds. (Numbers are indefinite due to taxonomic differences and disparate interpretations of the explorers' notes.) Johnsgard's highly developed conservation ethic is a dominant theme throughout. Following a compilation of game killed for food on the expedition (1,001 deer, 35 elk, 227 bison, 62 pronghorns, 113 beaver, 104 geese, 48 shore birds, 46 grouse, 43 grizzly bears, 23 black bears, 18 wolves, and 16 otters), he writes, "This level of resource exploitation marked the beginning of a century of unrestrained wildlife slaughter in America ending in the elimination of the bison, elk, gray wolf, and grizzly bear from the Great Plains, and the complete extinction of the passenger pigeon, California parakeet, and Eskimo curlew" (p. 7). |
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The next three sections cover three legs of the journey: Kansas–Missouri and Nebraska–Iowa, South and North Dakota, and Montana. Accompanying these chapters are maps indicating Lewis and Clark campsites with dates as well as present-day Indian reservations and national wildlife refuges. These chapters are the heart of the work, wherein Johnsgard discusses the animals and plants discovered, described, and collected by Lewis and Clark. The entries are concise (an average of three per page), organized alphabetically by common name, each including information on where the species was observed or collected, natural history notes, Native American uses, and present conservation status of the species. Here are found the author's marvelous black-and-white drawings of birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish. Several plants are also illustrated in each section. |
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One cannot write a natural history and omit plants, but botany is not the author's strength, and there is a strong suggestion in his acknowledgments that plants were added as an afterthought. Johnsgard has limited himself to those plants for which herbarium material still exists, and because most of the plants collected between the Mandan over-wintering site and Great Falls were lost when a cache was flooded, we have very poor herbarium records of Meriwether Lewis's springtime collections on the Great Plains. The expedition's most important plant collections and descriptions were from areas west of the Rockies and are thus beyond the book's geographic scope. |
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The book's final section is a detailed compendium of Lewis and Clark sites of biological and historic interest in the central and upper Missouri Valley. Here travelers or aficionados will find current descriptions of areas associated with the Corps of Discovery, including driving instructions and Web site sources. Again, Johnsgard's intimate knowledge of the region and his appreciation for the land and its vegetation, animals, and indigenous people is evident. In all, this is a thoroughly enjoyable and useful addition to your Lewis and Clark bookshelf and one that will also fit comfortably in a backpack or glove compartment. |
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