The story will be told by a salvaged episode of a 1960s radio series about Lewis and Clark called "Horizons West" which aired on Armed Forces Radio, according to Loren Flynn, executive director of the Travelers' Rest Preservation and Heritage Association.
Saturday's program, which is free and open to all ages, will be held at 10:30 a.m. at Travelers' Rest State Park, located one-quarter mile west of U.S. 93, at 6550 Mormon Creek Road in Lolo.
"Some of it is accurate," Flynn said of the radio show. "And some of it isn't. But for the time, it was pretty good."
Flynn said the radio show will be stopped periodically to allow for a roundtable discussion of the events that occurred when Lewis and Clark decided to split the party at Travelers' Rest.
Meriwether Lewis took a small party up the Missoula Valley and on up the Blackfoot River, Flynn said.
One reason for taking that route, he said, was that the expedition hadn't seen that country during their westward trip. Lewis wanted to explore the Marias River, which was the largest river coming from the north, to find out how far north it continued.
The other reason for taking that route, Flynn said, was that the Shoshone, Nez Perce and Salish Indians told Lewis that was the most direct path to reach the Great Falls of the Missouri.
It had taken the expedition 57 days to travel from the Great Falls to Travelers' Rest on their westward journey. But the Native people said it would take only five days to make the return trip by way of the Blackfoot.
Meanwhile, William Clark took the majority of the party south, up the Bitterroot and over Gibbons Pass into the Big Hole Valley, and eventually made their way to the Yellowstone River - and finally to the Missouri.
The decision to split the party at that time was one that had important international ramifications, according to Flynn, because that part of the country was not part of the Louisiana Purchase that gave the United States ownership of a large part of the West. That portion of western Montana, Flynn said, was disputed territory, coveted by several European nations.
Darby Bramble, Travelers' Rest program coordinator, will lead discussions of the reasons for the decision and the impacts it had on the land and people living there.
Coffee, tea and hot chocolate will be provided. The Travelers' Rest Storytelling Series continues on Saturday, Feb. 26.
Reporter Daryl Gadbow can be reached at 523-5264 or at dgadbow@missoulian.com
If you're interested
To learn more about the Travelers' Rest State Park Storytelling Series, call the Travelers' Rest Preservation and Heritage Association at 273-4253, or visit its Web site at www.travelersrest.org. The association is a nonprofit organization that manages the state park through an agreement with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Travelers' Rest State Park is located just south of Lolo on Mormon Creek Road, off U.S. 93. The park is open to visitors from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Visitors may either explore the grounds on their own, or take a docent-led tour.
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