We are heading north out of Kansas City, following the Missouri River, into Nebraska. We past through 2 Indian reservations – the Kickapoo and the Potawatomi, and past lots of signs with familiar Indian names like Hiawatha, Seneca, and Tecumseh. The roads were only 2 lanes and not busy. After 3 hours of driving we stopped on route at Lewis and Clark Interpretive Trails. I was one of the early, shorter ones who got to park in the lot – the rest were strung out down the driveway.
There was a full-sized replica of the keel boat used by Lewis and Clark. It looked so small to handle 45+ people, but they did have 2 other large canoe-like boats. This was 1805 so there is no motor or engine of any kind – the steamboats didn’t come along for another 50 years. They basically dragged, pushed, rowed and poled these boats upstream and if they were lucky, used a sail.
It’s 55 feet long, 8 feet 4 inches wide and carried 12-15 tons of supplies. When loaded, it sits 2-3 feet in the water.
The tent overhead would have been drawn back and the men would plant a pole on the river bottom then walk on the side benches and use those slats as leverage to push the boat upstream.
Also on the grounds there was a replica of an Indian earthen home.
