Looking Back at Lewis and Clark

The American Thinker ^ | September 3, 2012 | David M. Lenard

[Cincinatus' Wife]

.......The Lewis and Clark expedition was filled with men who were exactly what McCunn was not: men who, like Drouilliard, didn't blink in the face of extreme danger. These frontiersmen could not only survive, but thrive, in an environment which was almost inconceivably dangerous to urbanized Americans today with our risk-phobic, pantywaist frappuccino culture. Drouilliard was the kind of guy you could drop in the middle of a remote jungle with nothing but a pocketknife, and return five years later to find that he had become emperor of his own mini-state, and taken several native wives. Drouilliard and the rest didn't need WiFi or hand sanitizer or organically grown phosphate-free arugula: they just did what needed to be done.

What a difference from today, where the handwringing of nervous housewives ("God forbid little Jimmy should encounter peanut traces in his food") dominates our daily existence, and the liberal imperative of nanny-state overregulation promises the illusion of lives lived in perfect safety and perfect comfort, without risk or suffering or even unpleasantness. Self-sufficiency is anathema to this mentality, but the Lewis and Clark expedition was self-sufficient to an almost unbelievable degree: they not only hunted their own food, but, when necessary, built their own boats; sewed their own clothes; and when it was too cold to travel, built their own forts -- not once, but twice.

In our modern republic, where large segments of our population compete to be declared helpless victims so they can receive government handouts, one cannot help but think that little Jimmy might benefit from being sent out with Drouilliard: "Here's a musket, son -- now go kill that deer, and don't miss, because if you do, there's a strong possibility you might starve."

[BipolarBob]

Hard economic times may lie ahead where such skills may be necessary. Little Johnny with the peanut allergy may not survive.

[GeronL]

300,000-350,000 on hemo-dialysis that is costing (mostly taxpayers) $72,000 per year not counting the meds. That’s over $21 billion a year that might be tempting for a death panel.

[tx_eggman]

I read Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage - based on these journals - several years ago. It is a stunning story. Merriweather Lewis was 28 years old wheh the trip began.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

.......Merriweather Lewis was 28 years old wheh the trip began.

Now, 26 year-olds brace themselves for the daunting challenge of paying for their own health insurance.

[givemELL]

Sacajawea was of remarkable help to the expedition, but the peaceful presence of a “woman” by the indians was actually overshadowed by the frequent demonstration by Lewis of the remarkable air rifle of Austrian origin he carried with him and protected at all costs. It was a high caliber repeating air rifle with a capacity of, I think, 22 rounds. It astonished the indians during the entire journey and did more to prevent attacks than the presence of Sacajawea did. Here is a link for an exhaustive discussion of the technology of the weapon:

http://www.beemans.net/lewis-assault-rifle.htm

[SamAdams76]

Good article. Reminds me of a camping trip I went on a few years back when my kids were in scouting. Some of the men complained constantly. The night was too cold, the drinking water was too warm, the hike was too long, too many mosquitoes, on and on. When it came time to collect firewood, they’d drag a couple of skinny sticks over to the pile and consider themselves too exhausted to do anything else for the night. When it was time to go home though, they couldn’t get their vehicles loaded fast enough!

[HereInTheHeartland]

“Now, 26 year-olds brace themselves for the daunting challenge of paying for their own health insurance.”

And the very tough decision of Adroid or Iphone.p

[Minutemen]

Our forebears had “something” that is sadly lacking today.....

[DH]

Man became “domesticated” in 1964 when the Beatles came over with their long hair and have been “feminized” ever since. :-)

[Stonewall Jackson]

The camping trip I'll never forget was my last Boy Scout summer camp (20 years ago). One of the kids tried to stash some junk food in his tent and ended up with a raccoon sitting on the foot of his cot at about 2am, snacking on his Oreos.

I ended up with Jerry in my tent for the rest of the night, sobbing loudly that he wanted to go home and get away from the horrible raccoon. I don't think I got any sleep for the rest of the night. Ugh!

[uncbob]

I read Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage - based on these journals - several years ago. It is a stunning story

One of the most enjoyable books I read

[HiTech RedNeck]

Raccoons are cool to pet.

[cyclotic]

At scout camp this summer, one of our boys decided he needed to puke...inside his sleeping bag. That was a mess like nothing I’d ever seen before. He spent most of the day in the infirmary sleeping off a fever. To his credit, he never once asked to go home even though he only lived 10 minutes away. I purposely never called his parents because he never asked me too.

[autumnraine]

While he was impressive, a tribe looking at the L&C group would not have known about that rifle. They would see a woman and baby and prevented many untold attacks. Not to mention her translation help.

[Stonewall Jackson]

I would say that the worst experience I ever had at summer camp was the year it rained the entire week. It was almost a constant rain from the time we got there on Sunday until we left Saturday morning.

Many of the activities were cancelled, the fish weren't biting, and we weren't able to complete our archery, astronomy, and rocketry merit badges.

It was quite depressing.

[WVKayaker]

Raccoons are cool to pet.

I was living at the AFRH in DC (I still keep my room paid for, but live away from it...), and was asked to be the "game warden". My job was to feed the Mallards, and wash down the decks from the 100+ Canadian Geese that live there. The Home has a golf course, which is a buffet to them, and the fishing ponds make for a good refuge from the foxes and raccoons.

The raccoons found me to be an easy touch. I kept my RV down there as a "smoke shack", since my cigars aren't welcome in the home. One evening, a young raccoon paid me a visit. He was gimpy on his left front leg, but could still use it to pick up the Cheerios that I gave him. You can see them in the bottom pic. The ducks are mom and five little ones, that I first saw when newly hatched. The building in the RV pic is the Protestant Chapel at the Home. The Lincoln cottage is nearby.

Another evening, I left some dinner scraps for him. He ate for a couple of minutes, then left. 30 minutes (or so) later, here he comes back with three more. I am standing in the doorway, watching, when a mom with two little ones walked right out by my feet.

I am on the road in my RV now, visiting family and friends in NC, and I miss seeing all of my "friends"!

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

They would see a woman and baby and prevented many untold attacks. Not to mention her translation help.

I have read that, to the Indians, a woman traveling with a group of men was an indication that it was NOT a war party.

Often such traveling groups were attacked anyway.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***I would say that the worst experience I ever had at summer camp was the year it rained the entire week***

http://www.lyrics007.com/Spike%20Jones%20Lyrics/Hello%20Mother,%20Hello%20Father%20Lyrics.html

Hello muddah, hello faddah,
Here I am at Camp Granada.
Camp is very entertaining,
And they say we’ll have some fun if it stops raining!

[autumnraine]

Probably later in the century, but remember that this was the first expedition. Not the pioneers. I think a lot of people get the time periods blurred. While there was some spanish, some French, some older vikings, this was the first AMERICANS and the other groups weren’t a threat to the land/territory. And at that point, neither were the Americans.

At the turn of the 19th century (late 1700’s to 1805 or so), the central plains Indians did not have contact with Americans. Obviously.

So for THIS time period, they did not see them as a war party and did not attack. 50 to 60 years later, once people started coming and claiming land, yes.