Onwards to Alaska: Find the Northwest Passage

June 30, 2013

"Find the Northwest Passage" was one of the charges made to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark by President Thomas Jefferson in 1804. The Great Falls of Missouri River played a critical part in the success or failure of that Expedition. The Passage was not here to be found, but the success of the expedition far exceeded expectations of that time in history. Today we toured two of the best attractions in Great Falls, MT. We started by driving the River Road along the Missouri. Some of the pictures below are the sights along the River.

Donna and Katherine by the Lewis and Clark Statue at the Visitors Center

overlooking Great Falls and the Missouri River

Old Great Falls Railroad Station

Black Eagle Falls and Dam

Rainbow Falls and Dam

Adult American White Pelican - Can have a wingspan up to 9 feet!

Sacawagea Point Overlook

Our first stop was the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center. This is a must see if you are in this area as it is time well spent telling the story of the Expedition. The best start is with the ½ hour Ken Burns movie that tells the whole story of the Lewis, Clark, and Sacagwagea. It really sets the stage for the exhibits to follow. What they must have gone through during the two plus year arduous expedition is incomprehensible to a modern person.

Great Falls Portage

Katherine donning a Wolverine pelt

Our second stop was the C.M. Russell Museum. All of the artwork in this museum depicts life in the western US. Well, except for one picture of the Sphinx and one from New Delhi?! No pictures were permitted in the museum galleries. When we first arrived my thoughts were…”this will be a short visit.” That is simply so untrue as the museum is about 4 times larger than you would expect form outside appearances. We were in there 2 hours and went at warp speed. The artwork includes numerous paintings by C.M. Russell and other prominent western artists (e.g O C Seltzer), bronze castings, Native American artifacts from the many tribes that populated this area(Hanson Gallery), portraits of people from various tribes (F. Winold Reiss), an exhibit of model wagons of just about every variety imaginable, and an Exhibit featuring the American Bison this one animals role in developing America. The pictures are from outside the Museum or in the C.M. Russell Artist's Studio.