NEWS ALERT

HISTORICAL SOCIETY COMMEMORATES 1806 RETURN VOYAGE

On September 9, the Douglas County Historical Society and the River City Star will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the journey home of the Corps of Discovery during a special public cruise that will depart at 2 p.m. from Lewis and Clark Landing. Tickets are reduced for the hour-long public cruise, which includes several features: $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. Reservations may be made by contacting the River City Star at 342-7827. Tickets also may be purchased on the September 9 cruise day at the special boarding area near Lewis and Clark Landing and Rick’s Café Boatyard.

Everyone aboard will receive a certificate verifying they “Walked in William Clark’s Footsteps,” based on the explorer coming ashore near what is now the Lewis and Clark Landing area in 1804. All voyagers also will be given a hand-held American flag, courtesy of Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society.

The first 50 families to make reservations will receive the book Rulo to Lynch With Lewis and Clark: A Guide and Narrative. The book details the Expedition’s activities while traveling through the Nebraska-Iowa river corridor. The book was written by Dr. Orville Menard, professor emeritus of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and was published by the Douglas County Historical Society.

On board during the hour-long cruise will be costumed re-enactors Meriwether Lewis (portrayed by Greg Nestroyl) and the Expedition’s French guide Francoise Labiche (portrayed by Dr. Menard), who will tell about Lewis and Clark’s experiences during the upstream voyage that first brought them to what is now Omaha on July 27, 1804 and about their return journey home two years later on September 8 and 9, 1806.

Additional information about the September 9 cruise and on Lewis and Clark may be found on the River City Star’s website: www.rivercitystar.com and on the Douglas County Historical Society’s website, www.omahahistory.org.

Summary of Lewis and Clark on September 8 and 9, 1806 from their Journals

September 8: Lewis and Clark walked up to the Bluffs (Council Bluffs) at 11:00 a.m. They returned to the river and men, and anxious to get to the Platte River, they “ply’d their ores very will.” They arrived at their old White Catfish Camp, 12 miles above the Platte; “here we encamped,” having traveled 78 miles that day.

September 9: They set out early (8:00 a.m.) and passed the entrance to the Platte River. That day they made 73 miles –to the vicinity of Peru, Nebraska, where they camped opposite the camp site of their journey two years earlier. Here is where Clark in 1804 had written about the “Ball pated Prairie,” later calling it “Bald Pated.” He was viewing a range of hills nearly devoid of trees, paralleling the river and extending as far as he could see. What he called “Ball pated Prairie” is today’s Loess Hills, now covered with trees, just east of I-29 in Iowa.

###

HISTORICAL SOCIETY PLANS RIVERFRONT LUNCH SEPTEMBER 8

According to their Journals, Lewis and Clark quickly passed by Omaha during their journey home on September 8, 1806 as they “ply’d their ores very will” to reach a previous campsite downstream, about 12 miles above the Platte River, near what is now Bellevue or Council Bluffs. They had called their site Camp White Catfish, a name chosen because Private Silas Goodrich caught a strange looking fish there during their upstream journey two years earlier. The fish was a channel catfish, described for the first time for science in 1804.

The Douglas County Historical Society plans a commemorative lunch at 1 p.m. September 8 at Rick’s Café Boatyard. The occasion is a symbolic watch for the return of the Corps of Discovery.

Reservations at $25 each are required and are to be made by September 5 by calling the Office Manager at the Douglas County Historical Society, (402) 455-9990. Following lunch, a brief ceremony will be held at nearby Lewis and Clark Landing, and each participant will receive a commemorative certificate verifying they “Walked in William Clark’s Footsteps.”