His entourage was no less impressive: the Montana National Guard's commanding general, state Disaster and Emergency Services officials, an artist, a photographer, and a historian who is also a retired brigadier general and the chairman of Montana's Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission.
The modern-day Corps, in fact, required a trio of Hueys for their three-day journey across Montana to the confluence of the Bitterroot River and Lolo Creek.
Thirty-one men, a young woman and a baby, they were on orders from President Jefferson to find a water route to the Pacific, establish ties with Indian tribes, and describe the continent's flora and fauna.
Half that number, Thursday's party was on orders to fly the route of the Corps of Discovery across Montana, from present-day Sidney to Lolo Pass, preparing for the safety and security of thousands of tourists expected during the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
"We have just completed a mission," said Maj. Gen. John E. Prendergast, adjutant general of the Montana National Guard.
"We want to be proactive rather than reactive as we head into this commemoration," he said. "It is our responsibility to take care of these people when they visit Montana - to be ready if they need our help."
The "what ifs" are a worry, seconded Clint Blackwood, executive director of the state's Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission.
What if canoeists bent on experiencing a bit of the story get into trouble on the Missouri River?
What if hundreds of people arrive in an area that can accommodate no more than a handful of extras?
What if nature complicates matters by sending floods or forest fires Montana's way?
And what about the professional criminals who will likely follow the expedition's route to prey on tourists?
"From the public safety standpoint, we want to be ahead of the curve," Blackwood said.
Thus this week's reconnaisance of the historic route along the Missouri River to Great Falls, into the Gates of the Mountains, over to the Headwaters, then to southwestern Montana, and finally the Bitterroot Valley and Lolo Pass.
"Our mission these last three days has been one of safety, security and education as we prepare for the influx of visitors," Prendergast said.
Each of the expedition's better-known campsites presents its own challenges, the general said. There is no fresh water in some places. Rattlesnakes inhabit others. Yet others require considerable skill of climbers or boaters.
And while no one knows how many people will be drawn to Montana over the next 2 1/2 years, all agree there will be an impact, Prendergast said.
In eastern and central Montana, small-town police chiefs and sheriffs are worried, he said. "They have enough trouble trying to take care of their own residents, much less hundreds or thousands of tourists."
The information gathered along the route will be shared with law enforcement and DES officials, Prendergast said, and will be used in planning a coordinated approach to visitor safety.
Along the route this week, the guardsmen also learned a bit of history from retired Sentinel High School history teacher Hal Stearns, who is a retired brigadier general in the Montana National Guard.
At Travelers' Rest on the expedition's return trip in July 1806, Lewis and Clark made plans to split the expedition - Clark leading one contingent south and then east to the Yellowstone River, while Lewis headed north to the Marias.
"Was that a tactical mistake?" Stearns wondered aloud. Was it too risky to split an already tiny party into even smaller pieces?
Stearns' conclusion: By the time the expedition returned to Travelers' Rest, three years into their journey, they were "the best of the best."
"When they arrive here, they are Delta," he said. "They're Seals. They're Airborne. They're Rangers."
"They are exactly what these young kids are today in Iraq," Stearns said. "When they arrive at Travelers' Rest on the return journey, they know they have an unbelievable fighting force - a band of brothers."
Stearns provided history lessons at each stopover this week - and for all in attendance, which in Loma included students from a one-room schoolhouse.
"I am adamant about getting military people to appreciate and understand the history and tradition of those who wore uniforms in the past," he said. "And the Lewis and Clark Expedition was, first and foremost, a military expedition."
That would explain the presence of Capt. Lewis when the Hueys touched down in a Lolo pasture Thursday afternoon.
Clad in bucksins and a fur-trimmed cap, Scott Mandrell is portraying Meriwether Lewis throughout the bicentennial as part of the Discovery Expedition, a national group which plans to re-enact the journey in real time.
On May 14, they'll embark up the Missouri River from Camp Dubois in a keelboat built to replicate the original. They'll return to St. Louis in September 2006.
In "real life," Mandrell is a member of the Montana National Guard, "serving at the pleasure of General Prendergast," he said.
"The story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition is truly the American Iliad and Odyssey," Mandrell said. "By re-enacting it, I hope to bring the history alive - to make it something more than a paragraph or two in a history book."
This week's flyover provided needed intelligence for the re-enactors, their leader said.
Two hundred years have passed, but the route remains rugged and dangerous in much of Montana, he said.
And once they get on the river, of course, there'll be no more helicopter rides.
"The next time I arrive at Travelers' Rest," Mandrell said, "it'll be by horseback."
Reporter Sherry Devlin can be reached at 523-5268 or at sdevlin@missoulian.com
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)