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Reviews
Lewis and Clark Revisited: A Photographer's Trail
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By Greg MacGregor, edited by Iris Tillman Hill, introduction by James P. Ronda
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University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2004. Photographs, maps. 224 pages. $50.00 cloth, $29.95 paper.
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Reviewed by Rob Masonis
American Rivers, Seattle, Washington
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| The adage that you cannot visit the same place twice quickly comes to mind when reading Lewis and Clark Revisited: A Photographer's Trail. Using excerpts from the journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, modern photographs of places along the explorers' trail, and his own commentary, Greg MacGregor takes readers on a captivating river journey from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Ocean and back to North Dakota, following the intrepid explorers' footsteps and paddle strokes as they searched for a navigable waterway connecting the Missouri River with the Pacific. |
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The journal excerpts transport readers back to the Great Plains, northern Rockies, and Pacific Northwest at a time when these areas were unmarked by settlement of European immigrants. In contrast, MacGregor's photographs of the contemporary landscape often reveal the heavy imprint of two hundred years of settlement and industrial progress. The journal excerpts can be challenging to fully understand when read in isolation, but MacGregor's commentary puts them in context, offering helpful explanation without being too intrusive. |
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In his prologue, MacGregor observes: "Wherever a western river flows, it becomes the center for human activities" (p. xvi). His photographs bear that out. Some photographs reveal this plainly, such as the picture of a ship being loaded at the port of Longview, Washington, on the Columbia River. Others — the ones that I found most impressive and insightful — capture at once the august beauty of the natural landscape and the pervasiveness of our industrial age. One such photograph shows enormous Ryan Dam on the Missouri in the background and in the foreground an ancient rock formation darkened by the shadows of power lines. Conspicuously absent in Lewis and Clark Revisited are photographs of rivers undisturbed by humans. |
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Whether one sees something worth celebrating or mourning — or both — in MacGregor's photographs depends on one's perspective, but the photographs offer much to consider as we ponder the West's future. The certainty of change in the western landscape is clearly conveyed. It would be a mistake to view this change as something that has already happened. It is continuing, as MacGregor deftly reminds us. Some of the most compelling photographs are those that reveal a landscape returning to a more natural state, such as the photograph of a single bridge abutment standing in the middle of the Yellowstone River, having once supported a bridge that has long since disappeared. A photograph of an abandoned railroad track that has been converted to a pedestrian and bike trail in Missouri evinces a postindustrial mindset that has taken root in many communities and is resulting in the intentional deconstruction of the industrial landscape in order to enhance quality of life. |
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Lewis and Clark Revisited has much to offer readers well-versed in the history of the expedition as well as those unfamiliar with it. For both sets of readers, the juxtaposition of Lewis and Clark's observations during their voyage in 1804–1806 with photographs of the trail today offers a unique and thought-provoking perspective. |
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