~ The Lewis and Clark Expedition ~

~ A Stopover in Parkville in 2004 ~


Lewis and Clark at Parkville from Donald Smith on Vimeo.


~ Please Excuse the Quality of the Pics, Captured from VHS Video ~

In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson sent Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark on an expedition to find out if Americans could travel overland to the Pacific Ocean following the Missouri and Columbia Rivers...

In the 2004 Discovery Expedition Re-enactment... The Lewis and Clark keelboat passing downtown Kansas City, Missouri...
June 26, 2004

The Route of the BiCentennial Re-enactment of the Discovery Expedition...

The X marks Parkville...

The Lewis and Clark Discovery Expedition of 2004 at Parkville, Missouri...
The Lewis and Clark Keelboat approaching Parkville about 1:00 p.m. June 29, 2004...

View from Smith's Point...

The Keelboat left Kansas City, Kansas on the morning of June 29th...

The two accompanyimg pirogues didn't leave until much later...

They fired a cannon here, some slight smoke but we missed catching the big boom...

They were working the oars coming into shore, but the main motive power was the 50 HP motor on the back...

Did they have outboard motors back then?

Turning in just below Smith's Point, is that Captaim Meriwether Lewis there?

The Captain waving and shouting some kind of greeting...

And a few citizens of Parkville and elsewhere waiting to greet the travelers...

This is the biggest crowd I have ever seen in English Landing Park, maybe more on Main Street for the 4th of July Fireworks...

There was a fife and drum corps waiting at the top of the boat ramp to salute them...

And the crew disembarked to join the crowd at the top of the ramp...

Some onlookers going down to the Keelboat to take a look...

The main Ohio and Missouri River transportation that the Corps used was a 55 foot Keelboat, which could be sailed, rowed, poled like a raft, or towed from the riverbank...

The keelboat featured a "Commander's Pennant" on the stern as well as an American flag hoisted to the top of the mast.

The keelboat was powered by sails (whenever there was sufficient wind), as well as oars...

In addition to the Keelboat, two wooden row boats called Pirogues were taken to hold men and supplies...

These showed up a few hours later than the Keelboat...

The Fife and Drum Corps was playing at the head of the ramp but the crowd was so thick I couldn't get a picture...


And I came back to the 'Encampment' on the second day...

Lewis & Clark along with the Corps of Discovery departed from Camp Dubois in Illinois on May 14, 1804...

In a span of 28 months, they covered 8,000 miles...

They developed friendships with the Native Americans and learned how to survive in some of America's most beautiful and treacherous territories.

Several members of the enactment crew posed as actual, members of the first expedition...

I didn't ask who these might represent...

Some of the crew did camp out in these tents, but I read they might also wander off now and then to a motel for a shower or rest...

I thought I recognized the gentleman on the left as Jim Reed, Director of the Parkville Nature Sanctuary, whom I had not met at the time of the encampment... I called him, and yes, that is he...

And he said the man he is talking to is a member of the Expedition, maybe Captain Clark... I had read that a member of the crew did dress as a Mountain Man but I was unaware it might be one of the Captains...

I did some reading and could not find that Captain Clark dressed like this, but I did read earlier that one crew member at least, did... Captain Clark was a tall red haired man, this could possibly be his re-enactor I would guess...

Captain Lewis was later appointed Governor of Louisiana and Captain Clark to Governor of Missouri Territory in 1813...

The cannon pointing upriver just to the left of Smith's Point... That place named for a Parkville citizen.. ME!

And preparing a load for another cannon shot...

Do you want to make it BOOM again?


All quiet on the morning of departure... The boats waiting for their crews...

Not many in the crowd early but more came as noon approached...

I managed to be waiting at the announced time of departure...

Manning the boats in preparation for leaving...

And Captain Meriwether Lewis preparing to board the Keelboat...

Ready and waiting for the order to shove off...




They were scheduled to leave Parkville at Noon sharp...

If you listen closely you can hear the clock chiming in the Park College Tower...





~ Turn up the volume there...
Singing on the way out... Something about Parkville Gals...

And one more Salute before heading upstream to Leavenworth, Kansas for the next encampment...
Heading West and then North from Parkville...

Making the River bend West of Parkville, on to Leavenworth, Atchison and Saint Joseph


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