Make a Point

Oct 16, 2005 by Naomi.

Being so steeped in history of 200 years ago, I didn’t remember it was Sunday when I came home today from the third day of interpreting history and automatically checked for mail. I was more tired than I realized, apparently, and simply running on radar.

Heritage Days down the great Columbia makes a point of the historical significance of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in a sort of living history at Sacajawea State Park at the confluence of two great rivers. Today the ever present wind of the Columbia Basin kept us wrapped in jackets and campers inside their tents. When the sun shone it was very pleasant and I sat in a sheltered spot on the leeward side of the gazebo when I had a moment to sit. I sat under a canopy in a comfortable chair intending to read more of James Alexander Thom’s book about The Sign Talker who was an interpreter for Lewis and Clark. It is fiction but written, as Thom’s books are, with a sense of authenticity about the expedition from a half breed Indian’s point of view.

In my Discovery Walks, I point to where the historic party landed, now under water held back by Ice Harbor dam and McNary dam. I point to a poster of rolling desert hills and sloping sandy beach and exclaim that was the scene that met the eyes of the white men who “discovered” the Columbia river. I point to trees and grass and emphasize that none of this green stuff was here 200 years ago this exact day. I point to samples of rabbit brush, sagebrush, bitterbrush and greasewood as the only plants visible to the travelers “as far as the eye could extend” according to Ordway’s journal. I point out the importance of Sacajawea’s presence and contemplate her desire to continue on the journey instead of remaining with her family when she could have in Shoshone country back in August. When asked about Lewis’s death I point out facts in history that I believe indicate he did not commit suicide, regardless of suggestions made by historians for many years. Most of the questions I get have no answers only educated guesses which I am quick to point out are my own conclusions because there is no proof of what really happened.

After my Discovery Walks I took the boat that shuttles visitors from the point of landing by Lewis and Clark on the Snake river up the Columbia river over a similar route taken by Clark in the small canoe toward the mouth of the Yakima river on October 17. Kennewick’s Columbia park hosted the huge exhibits brought by the National Park Service labeled Corps II which has been traveling the route of the famous voyage for six months. Graphics depicting the voyage are extensive and impressive. A tent of many voices holds hundreds of people who sit in comfort and hear Sgt Patrick Gass, York, and other actors speak as if they were now on the journey. Historians explain what little is known of the characters and events in moving ways which give listeners a better sense of history.

Ben Franklin transit bus returned me to Sacajawea park for which I am grateful. I point out it is beyond me to swim even downstream to my car.

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