Flight of Discovery - June 10, 2004: Great Falls of the Missouri

USFS Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretative Center is must-see when in Great Falls. The FOD crew spent a day there. June10, 2004. Photo credit: Mike Harding.

This is the tenth installment on the Flight of Discovery, an aerial scientific expedition that retraced the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail from Indiana to the Pacific Ocean. It is summarized by Mike Harding, the Expedition Leader. A complete accounting of the2004-2006 expeditions is recounted in his upcoming book, "On the Wings of an Eagle: Tragedy and Triumph of the Flight of Discovery".

I wished for the pencil of Salvatore Rosa or the pen of Thompson that I might be enabled to give to the enlightened world some just idea of this truly magnificent and sublimely grand object, which has from the commencement of time been concealed from the view of civilized man. I hope to still give to the world some faint idea of an object which at this moment fills me with such pleasure and astonishment, and which of its kind I will venture to assert is second to but one in the known world. 

--  Meriwether Lewis at the Great Falls of the Missouri, June 13, 1805.

Black Eagle Dam and Falls is the first of five falls that the Corps of Discovery had to portage around in 1805. First dam on the Missouri River. Built in 1890, rebuilt in 1926. June 10, 2004. Photo credit: Mike Harding.

 Mike’s Journal June 10, 2004

“Slept in” for the first time since May 26th - almost until 6:30 AM. It’s remarkable that here where Lewis and Clark’s Corps struggled mightily around the Great Falls of the Missouri, we also meet our first impediment weather. But such is the fabric of this expedition that we all see this as an opportunity for a much-needed break and the chance to actually spend some time at the local museums.

We are awed by the National Park Service Interpretive Center and spend most of the morning there. Lunch was recommended (by NPS employees) to be a local soda fountain where I had a killer chocolate malt.

I regret being so tired as to not make it to the Charlie Russell Museum - but that’s something to look forward to next year. Instead, I worked on my journals, did laundry, and watched Ronald Reagan’s funeral in Washington, DC. We’ve been out of touch with radio and television for a while, so that was a strange and mournful experience.

There was a fine article in the morning paper on the FOD, and the people at the hotel could not have been more accommodating. Julie, Jill, and Jeanette whipped up the best carnitas I’ve had in my life, and the crew chowed down on the hotel’s rainy patio before turning in early.

This evening the men repaired their mockersons, and put on double soles to protect their feet from the prickly pears. This is particularly severe on the feet of the men who have not only their own weight to bear in treading on those hacklelike points but have also the addition of the burden which they draw and which is in fact is as much as they can possibly move with, they are obliged to halt and rest frequently for a few minutes; at every halt these poor fellows down and are so much fatigued that many of them are asleep in an instant. -- Meriwether Lewis describing the portage around the Great Falls, June 23, 1805.