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Reviews
Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail Third edition
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By Julie Fanselow
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Falcon Publishing, Guilford, Conn., 2003. Photographs, maps, index. 336 pages. $15.95 paper.
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Adventuring along the Lewis and Clark Trail
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by Elizabeth Grossman
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Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 2003. Photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 296 pages. $16.95 paper.
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Reviewed by Ken DuBois
Oregon Historical Society, Portland
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| While Guidebooks about the Lewis and Clark Trail steer travelers toward geographic locations, inevitably they also reflect differing perceptions of a nation permanently changed — for better or worse — since the Corps of Discovery made their journey two hundred years ago. |
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Just as many nineteenth-century American landscape painters were careful to include a human presence in even the most remote natural scenes, Julie Fanselow's Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail provides readers with the assurance that their connection to civilization will be unbroken as they venture into the West. This is the primary purpose of the book, and so, broadly speaking, the author is extremely successful. She succeeds as well in illustrating the abundant educational opportunities along the way. One could become an authority on Lewis and Clark, it seems, from the cumulative effect of historical markers alone. |
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Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail, published as part of the Falcon Guide series, is designed to be a comprehensive manual on basic comforts, recreation, scenery, and points of historical interest at almost every stage of the trail from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Oregon coast. Included are driving directions, basic road maps, recommended restaurants and lodging, information on biking and hiking trails, details about museums and interpretive centers, and descriptions of a staggering number of Lewis and Clark commemorative sites and historic re-creations. With interest in the bicentennial almost guaranteed to increase in coming years, Fanselow's tips may also serve as a warning for some travelers. On the Nebraska–South Dakota border, for example, she explains that "there are probably a thousand or more campsites surrounding Lewis and Clark Lake, but since they manage to fill up fast on many summer weekends, it's important to stake a place early" (p. 75). |
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Shopping malls, golf courses, and other modern amusements are included in Fanselow's guidebook, but the author deserves credit for creating a guide that never strays far from its subject. Almost every page contains a reference to the Corps of Discovery's journey, and there are interesting and well-told Lewis and Clark stories throughout. While making no pretense that travelers will share the Corps's experience in any sense, Fanselow does make the case that modern-day travelers can find their own adventures, especially by using backcountry highways and enjoying the rural communities along the way. The simple pleasures of small-town life and the scenery between such spots may inadvertently bring travelers back to bygone America in a way no historical marker can. |
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An introductory essay on the Lewis and Clark Expedition and intermittent excerpts from the explorers' journals ostensibly make Adventuring along the Lewis and Clark Trail relevant as a history text, but the real history lesson in Elizabeth Grossman's guidebook concerns a national approach to natural resources over the past two hundred years. Without asserting that commerce-driven development and industry is the American Way, Grossman does make the point that a trend toward damaged landscapes and declining species — commonly attributed to modern-day mining, oil exploration, dams, and logging — actually began in the nineteenth century, with the overfishing and overhunting that accompanied an agrarian nation's push westward. |
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The good news, Grossman reminds us, is that many areas along the trail are scenic and open to anyone inclined to enjoy a moderate hike, walk, or paddle. This useful and engaging guidebook highlights a string of beautiful spots, primarily along the Missouri, Snake, and Columbia rivers, and offers ample reasons to take a close look by including lists of the plants, birds, and animals one may encounter along the way. The author provides driving directions, tips for locating trailheads, equipment rental locations, and phone numbers and web addresses for more detailed information. |
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While stressing that the landscape has been altered at almost every point on the Lewis and Clark Trail, the author shares her optimism about the opportunities still available to outdoor enthusiasts. Fort Pierre National Grassland in central South Dakota, Grossman writes, though interspersed with farm- and rangeland, "offers an excellent glimpse of what this Dakota Great Plains prairie must have been like at the time of Lewis and Clark" (p. 91). The Bitterroot National Forest on the Montana–Idaho border, affected by extensive logging, offers "any number of wonderful hikes" (p. 148), and the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, although bearing little resemblance to the river encountered by Lewis and Clark, is still "well worth a look" (p. 180). |
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Grossman recommends "flexibility and delight as constant companions" and suggests that ecological awareness be a companion as well, lest travelers think these extraordinary environments are secure (p. 41). Seven species that once thrived along the route are now extinct, she reports, and over a hundred more are officially listed as threatened, endangered, or on the verge of such status. The author's purpose is admirably achieved: to encourage an enjoyment of these places, pique readers' curiosity, and help them "understand the importance of conserving what is left of that original landscape" (p. 1). |
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