June 26-27 Pierre, South Dakota
June 28 Fort Lincoln, Mandan, North Dakota,
Fort Mandan: The Expedition's first winter
June 29 Theodore Roosevelt National Park, N.D.

The photo of Lewis & Clark is at Fort Mandan,N.D., a reproduction because the original no longer exists. The Fort was built a few miles from Mandan and Hidatsa villages who were friendly and provided corn in exchange for axes that were made in the Fort by the blacksmith. Because of extensive Indian trading, one of those axes arrived in the Columbia River Gorge area before Lewis & Clark got there the following spring! There is a great interpretive center near Washburn, N.D. where I tried on a buffalo skin 'coat'. It was so heavy it was difficult to walk around in it. Also there was a cradle board with a doll baby that I tried to lift but it was very heavy. This would have been how Sacajawea carried Pomp (Jean Baptist Charbonneau) around on her back; she had to be a strong woman.

The photo of the keel boat is a reproduction of the main vessel that carried the Expedition's tons of goods upriver to Fort Mandan and then returned downstream in 1805 to carry the nature specimens and journals and notes up to that time to President Jefferson. This reproduction is on the waterfront in Bismarck, N.D.

Just the work of traveling even with all the improved technology that I have 200 years later, takes a toll. I find that everything must have a place and be returned to that place and be clean and in repair. Much of the Expedition's time must have been spent on this. Also, the journaling which was to take place every evening, was another job on the Trail. I find that sitting down and getting settled to write seems practically impossible with every day changing, sometimes arriving late at a camp site thinking more of food & sleep.

The past two nights I've spent in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The area is beautiful and environmenally pristine. The Park takes pride in it's thriving eco systems and clean air and clear skies. It is a little like Eden staying here. Driving along, buffalo come walking down the road toward me--and take little interest. Buffalo can run 35 mph and turn faster than a horse, so we tourists are cautioned to take it easy around the bison.

Pres. T. Roosevelt came out here as a Harvard graduate, city-bred, asthmatic, skinny and weak. He took to cowboy life, and became a changed man in about 3 years. He claimed that the Dakota Badlands brought him vitality & health. He was an avid reader and writer; always had a book with him. He was great conservationist; he is credited with saving 5 National Parks and many National Forests.

South Dakota family ties

My mother was born in Sioux Falls and I decided to do a little poking around in the family tree while in South Dakota. The highways are laid out like a checkerboard here mostly heading north & south, or east & west. I drove straight north past miles of flooded fields dotted with occasional farmhouses to Aberdeen in NE South Dakota.

Mother has memories of Grandpa John Thomas Bell living here as a successful businessman. His daughter, Cora Bell, 6 months, is listed in the US census of 1880. She was married to Robert Bigford Gage, b. 1879 for only a year, and then Mr. Gage 'disappears' from our story. Their son, Kenneth Homer Gage, b. 17 July 1899, my grandfather, was raised by his grandfather. Kenneth went to work one summer around 1919 in Mr. Bell's dry cleaning(?) business in Sioux Falls where one day he saw young Nellie Langstraat, my grandmother and married her. They might have stayed in Sioux Falls except that Kenneth learned about opportunities in California. The Anza desert was being homesteaded. He moved his wife and baby (mother) in the early 1920s to the west, and Cora came out to live in Anza on a homestead complete with windmill & well. I remember my great grandma Cora as we visited her there when I was small in the 1950s.

I imagine if our family story had gone differently, I might be a citizen of South Dakota instead of California. I've been impressed with the people and the wide open spaces here. The kids are polite and the people hospitable. There are plenty of computers in the library, but the rule is still 'quiet', a good thing as I compose this chapter.

Our traveling group has been in Pierre, the capital, for a few days; the local paper did an article on us! This is where Lewis & Clark had a showdown with the Sioux. The chiefs didn't like the gifts they were offered, and wanted guns instead; they were the most antagonistic of all the tribes encountered. It turned out to be the beginning of the end for the Sioux culture which withered in the next 75 years.

I am looking forward to the next leg of the journey, Bismarck, North Dakota, and the Mandan village where the Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1804-1805. Adieu for now!

June 18 arrive in Yankton
June 19 borrow kayak for river trip
June 20 drive to Valentine, SD to meet group
June 21 sixteen of us on the Niobrara Scenic River

In just a few days I have made a number of new friends in the RV group, WIN, who are traveling the Lewis & Clark Trail. Many RVers started in St. Louis and will continue to Astoria, WA.

Yankton is the former territorial capital of South Dakota. Lewis and Clark held councils and feasted with the Yankton Sioux here August 28, 1804. They slept among shelters "of a Conic form Covered with Buffalow Roabs Painted different Colours" -- teepees. One of my favorite diary entrees of Sgt. John Ordway is, "After dark we Made a large fire for the Indians to have a war dance...the Band began to play on their little Instruments, & the drum beat & they Sang. the young men commenced dancing around the fire. it always began with a houp & hollow & ended with the Same, and in the intervales, one of the warries at a time would rise with his weapen & Speak of what he had done in his day." (sic)

The WIN group meets in the mornings and at 5 pm to celebrate birthdays, share the news of the day and plans for tomorrow. I wanted to go kayaking on the Niobrara National Scenic River with a group of experienced kayakers on a Class 1-2 for about 14 miles so drove west to Fishberry campground near Valentine, SD where the group was boondocking. Diane, a member who had to leave the group for a few days, volunteered to loan me her kayak. Luckily I had ordered crossbars for the Jeep before I left home and now they are coming in handy.
The put-in went smoothly; we had a sunny day on the river flowing abou 4 1/2 mph. We spotted a large spotted turtle and a large eagle in a tree on the bank. When a gust of wind blew off my hat and whenI reached for it, the boat began to fill and I went overboard! It didn't take long with the assistance of 3 nearby kayakers to get me going again. Luckily everything I had stayed dry in plastic bags, and my new nylon pants, $3.50 from Yankton Good Will, dried quickly. Later at our regular 5 pm meeting, I was presented with the 'roving rubber ducky', the prize for the kayaker who 'takes a swim'. It was such a large duck that I had to ask someone with a big rig to keep it for me. My photo was taken receiving this honor with much applause.