DAY 9

 

Day 9

 

 

Today we left Pine Grove RV Park in Greenwood, Nebraska,

 for North Sioux City, South Dakota 

 

On our way we stopped at the Lewis and Clark State Park in Onawa, Iowa

On August 10, 1804, the Corps of Discovery arrived at this area where Lewis and Clark State Park now lies. 

 

The oxbow lake near Onawa left behind by the changing Missouri River was one stopping point as Captain Meriweather Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark made their trek to the west.
More than 200 years later, the Iowa state park named in their honor is bringing history back to life.
"It draws people here. It teaches them about Lewis and Clark. It gives them an opportunity to be educated," Park Historian Butch Bouvier said.
Inside the new facility, which cost just over $3.5 million, visitors will find four replica boats just like the ones used by the Corps of Discovery.
People who stop by the Lewis and Clark Visitor Center will also get to check out what was in Lewis and Clark's cabin. Local officials hope this draws in historians and students.
"It's going to be important for our kids, for the bus trips out here, there is going to be so much they can learn," Onawa Mayor Bob Skelton said.
"It's cool to be on one of the boats because they're old and they're pretty cool," 2nd Grader Kamron Thiele said.
But, one of the main draws is getting to experience what it was like on the river. Butch Bouvier built the barge that visitors will be able to ride on around Blue Lake. He said if you're interested in taking a boat ride, be sure to plan ahead, and confirm a time with the center before you go.
Bouvier said riding on the boat will provide visitors with a unique experience they can't find anywhere else.
"And have the opportunity to literally step in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark and feel what it felt like back then," Bouvier said.
"The educational value, this will be great for grade school on up," Frank Rickerl, with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said.
After eleven years of fighting for funding, and even battling flooding, the community's hard work has paid off. And, the hope is it'll do the same for business.
"For Onawa, the numerous amount of people that come out here, visit this campground, visit this new center, they come into the community and it's a lot of economic expenditures," Skelton said.
And, to keep it fresh, park officials plan to add new exhibits frequently, so people have a reason to come back each year.

 

 Butch Bouvier

  explains to us the art of building Keel Boats

 

 

 

Not the most comfortable place to sleep is it!

A hallowed out canoe 

Sergeant Floyd Monument

The Sergeant Floyd Monument commemorates Sergeant Charles Floyd, Jr., the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die on the journey. Writing in his diary on July 31st, Floyd noted, "I am verry sick and has ben for Sometime but have Recovered my helth again." However, this quick recovery was followed by a turn for the worse. The night before his death, Clark remarked, "Serjeant Floyd is taken verry bad all at once with a Biliose Chorlick we attempt to relieve him without success as yet, hr gets worst and we are much allarmed at his Situation, all attention to him" (DeVoto 1997, 21). On August 20, 1804, Floyd passed away, most likely from peritonitis, caused by the inflammation or rupture of his appendix. He died from an illness that even the best doctors of the day could not have cured.

The SERGEANT FLOYD was launched at the Howard Shipyards of Jeffersonville, Indiana on May 31, 1932.  She was purchased by the U.S. Government for the Army Corps of Engineers.  Her mission was light towing, survey and inspection work on the inland waterways under the jurisdiction of the Missouri River Division of the Corps of Engineers.
The vessel was named in memory of Sergeant Charles Floyd, the only fatality of the journey.

The Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center showcases permanent exhibits about the Corps of Discovery's time in the present-day Sioux City area, from late July to early September 1804. The death and burial of Sergeant Charles Floyd on Aug. 20, 1804, is at the center of the story. Floyd was the first U.S. soldier to die west of the Mississippi River.
The expedition as a military operation comes to life in exhibits that use interactive devices, including animatronic mannequins, computers, flip books, stamping stations, text-and-graphic panels, lift-and-drop panels, handpainted murals, a brass-rubbing station, and reproductions of military equipment.
The Traditional Native Games exhibit displays more than two dozen reproductions of games artifacts housed at the Buechel Lakota Memorial Museum at St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. The Center's Buffalo Robe exhibit highlights the role of the buffalo to Native peoples.

The Floyd Memorial Association exhibit illuminates the community effort that resulted in the Floyd Monument, the first National Historic Landmark designated by the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Center's exhibit includes a replica of the obelisk.
The Keelboat Theatre recalls the 55-foot-long vessel of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. DVD presentations on exploration and Native cultures topics are shown daily. The Center's Spirit of Discovery Store offers a range of books and gift items for all ages.
The grounds feature a 30-by-50-foot U.S. Flag atop a 150-foot flag pole. The 14-foot-tall bronze "Spirit of Discovery" sculpture depicts Lewis, Clark and Lewis's Newfoundland dog, Seaman.

Welcome to South Dakota

Yup - It is raining!

 

 

 

Watch for our next posting!