Closed Captions Audio Described

Dr. William L from Hastings College discusses the Lewis and Clark Expedition's passage through the Bitter Root Mountains, focusing on whether Shoshone guide Old Toby (Swooping Eagle) knew the way. Drawing on historical journals and personal hiking experience, he examines the difficult terrain between Lost Trail Pass and the Nez Perce country, arguing that cultural differences and the Corps' determination to reach the Pacific—rather than Old Toby's navigational failure—created hardship on the journey.

Transcript

0:01 for us to learn from different individuals with different backgrounds different areas of expertise and today we are very fortunate to have with us Dr William L from Hastings College um in the past he has been a junior high teacher he is currently a professor of teacher education at hings College which is um just about 1 and a half hours West of Lincoln
0:26 Nebraska in in addition to um teaching at the colle she also has led um Historic Trail trips over the past 20 years um and those are for teachers and in June he has done some most recently some tours and courses on the Louis M Clark Trail today he will be presenting a program entitled did old Toby know the
0:50 way would you please help me welcome Dr will Lo I hope they have the sound adjusted they do they are very good at this and I want to thank um um the National Park Service and all the other agencies that have collaborated to do this wonderful
1:14 project which we've probably all heard about can you hear me hear hit the back okay as a college professor uh we're used to 50 minutes we're used to um making students in the back with the ball caps and the sunglasses doding off the students of H's College are
1:36 great um in fact I remember one of the last uh courses that I taught in May um I Heard students talking after after the class and and they were trying to decide what to do since it was Friday what what were we going to do Friday night and one person said oh hey here's what we do we'll flip aart if it's heads uh we'll get dates and go to the movs if it's tail
2:01 uh we'll just go stay and uh get the bars after we'll just go stay and if it lands on edge we'll go home instead so um thank you very much to uh Omaha Raskin uh all of you who have this interest in the Lewis and Clark
2:24 Saga um participants of the Lewis and clar trails classes that I have led over the years we call them survivors and there are some here a mouth of the black folks and there are some of them here I've spoken to them U and um Pat Jones who helped to arrange for my being here and what a beautiful day and beautiful
2:48 setting to be celebrating uh the American Odyssey that we call the ls and Clark expedition now this presentation uh is about a part of the trail that perhaps some of you have not heard so much about it's the part of the trail where
3:12 they were on land and in the high Bitter Root range of mountains one of the most difficult range of mountains in the country uh and I will describe the difficulties that they fac and uh difficulties that nearly defeated the Expedition now the question is did old
3:36 Toby know the way did old Toby know the way old Toby also known as swooping Eagle we think guided them through this difficult terrain but some imply that he lost the way lost the way at lost trail pass lost the
4:01 away uh on the Lo nimi Trail and thus added to the hardships that the course suffered I'm going to disagree with that and claim based on the reading of the journals and of the experts that is M and
4:21 fio uh and others that old Toby did know the way as far as he had travel and that where they were lost was more of a contrast in cultural attitudes that I mean that Lewis and
4:45 Clark were determin to go west to the Pacific before winter and so they wouldn't always follow old Toby's advice to follow the easier Trail LS and Clark you know went faced with a challenge or told that they couldn't do it only became more
5:09 determined right absolutely tell them what it couldn't be done and by golly they would do it uh undaunted courage the title of the famous book explains that attitude okay now
5:32 where my ideas about old Toby really took shape was when I walked the trail and I'm kind of a Hiker Biker climber type of person um and so I've had the opportunity to hike many of the rugged
5:54 areas of the trail on the Montana IO border and you know when you like when you walk in the footsteps every few feet there are light BS oh I see what they were talking about oh now I get so that's what I can share with
6:18 you is uh this travel through the difficult bitter Roots now let me kind of show you where oh first how many of you have heard of the sh Tri of course how many how many of you have heard of Kam the chief and brother of Chicago how many of you have heard of old Toby good great and how many of you
6:42 have heard of lemi pass which was named later now it's going to be it's confusing for me because I really want to use the original Shi names like Wabi is the Shon name for when I pass but that confuses people so I may go back and forth probably more often I'll use both names
7:07 like logo Trail and N how many have heard of the Lo Trail also known as n how many have been on L I pass wonderful and lost trail pass and L pass and the L Trail any of you walked
7:32 all over the L Trail quite a bit of it a little bit of it okay let me show you where we're at okay the first part of my talk
7:55 appropriate is that what am I supposed to quit um begins at the gates of the mountains and we travel through in down the Jefferson River up the Jefferson River and Lewis and Clark are seeing snow on the high mountains as they move
8:18 through this area then they get to what today we call Clark Canyon reservoir south of Dylan how many of you have been there put that on your list you can camp there or stay in Dyan at the motels then that's where they met Come Away sh and old Toby became
8:43 their guide then they work for old Toby LED them North over lost trail pass down to B Valley which was easy and then they turned West up the l n Trail and that got very very tough
9:04 okay so that gives you the location of my presentation and then there'll be slides to show the tra and please though there'll be time for questions and answers uh during the talk ask me anytime I love that we begin with two questions number one was old Toby qualified to lead the
9:28 expedition way thought so he said he's our best he knows that country to the north north of uh of the s River is what he used and um Lewis wrote in his journal that he was very intelligent and uh that U he much
9:53 pleased Clark much pleased Clark the second question did oi really know the entire route now by the entire route I mean from let see there it
10:16 is from L by pass can you see that pointer I wiggle around there to we have PR on the other side of the bitter Roots a heart of the N first
10:39 country yes he knew the route over lost trail pass yes he knew the route through the bito valley that's Hamilton and Darby the location of major forest fires in the last few years in National TV yes he knew the eastern part of the L nimu Trail West of
11:03 Missoula but after the headquarters of the lock saw on the Idaho side of L pass I say wait just a minute because that's Nez first country shonis and N veres were enemies would it have been safe for old Toby to have traveled the western part
11:26 of the nimu trail Into the Heart of as first country I don't see how I just don't see how to the headquarters of the Locka to fish for salmon yes now my argument is that old Toby knew exactly where he was going up to the fishing areas of the
11:49 Locka after that they didn't need a guy the problem was not knowing the trail because hundreds of n first Horsemen went back and forth one once or twice a year that leaves a strong trail even in the snow the problem was they were hungry they were cold they were exhausted the weather was absolutely
12:12 lousy that was the problem that wasn't old to's fa now to set the stage for the meeting with old Toby let's join the Expedition at the gates of the rocky
12:28 BS how many have been at the gates of the rocky mounts near hel terrific wonderful place and recommend it to you so about in here Lewis was beginning to become desperate to find the Indians
12:51 he'd been looking for them all the time since leaving The mandad Villages had seen n some signs but no so he's looking off I'm going to the direction they were going we're going to pretend that we're going up River that's up River so they're looking off to the west and they see snow now
13:13 this is late August mid they see snow on the high Peach wow we got to get across these mountains this is going to be tougher than we thought they look off to the left and they see the tobacco rout mountains and Willow Creek comes down and they name it philanthropy because they were Masons and that was a Mason the Sonic virin but no Indians they look
13:37 to the right again the Pioneer mountains looming up with snow in the tops but no Indians out comes the beautiful River they almost take it today it's called the big hole they named it the wisdom another Messiah vir on up the river now Lewis and Le is
13:59 on ahead now with his best trackers he is anxious he's not sleeping well he's worried and he was a worrier anyway you know that and now he sees mountains to the South The Bitter Root range more snow but no Indians he comes
14:23 to a fork in the Jefferson River this is what it looks like today in late winter to the left in that picture is where the true source of the Missouri lies it's called Red Rock River and the farthest source of the Red Rock River is
14:48 Hell roing Creek which I've been fortunate to to go to and I wish I had time to show you the slides of the highest Springs of the Missouri River that River begins at Eloy Creek in Elroy Canyon about 20 mil crowly miles west of West Yellowstone Montana they didn't take that way because they sent drer and the
15:12 trail faded now Jefferson said find the source of the Missour but which is going to take precedence take that River the stronger River but the Indian Trail Fades or go right where the trail is strong they've got to have horses that means they've got to find the Shon so
15:34 they went right to the right of that picture that is horse Prairie Creek one of the great Ranch areas Hay Meadows of the world you should go there just to see the way they construct the gates out uh out of Lodge B Pine and up they went and I'm shortening
15:58 a lot of this but at one point Lewis with his glass spies a lone Rider and he calls out do you know what he calls out have you read it tone he calls mean he thinks it means friend but something got lost in the
16:21 translation it meant stranger T and the wrer we wheels and heads back up the creek he is upset and Lewis could get upset Clark was steady and even Lewis could get upset he was so determined and
16:44 he blamed his trusted trackers Jer and uh h m meil they said guys you should have pulled back and let me advance now he was really worried but did he turn around no he finally got to what he called the source of the mour and let
17:08 let me show you that and he's about to meet old to this is what he called the most distant found August 12th the road took us to the most distant Fountain of the mighty Missouri in search of which we have spent so many toysome days and restless
17:32 nights that's the place now I've worked with the Park Service I've hyped every every mile of that string uh the highest spring is actually several miles further up where it's very hard to get to and where you can't get there just as a tourist I mean you got to be a serious hiker but this is where we think he was
17:56 talking and H McNeil said uh how grateful he was to reach the source of a mighty Missouri the farthest source and get a cold drink so Lewis kept going even though he had not found
18:21 Indians this is one of the highest Springs that's the map that I made some of my conclusions on okay now this is one of my great favorite slides of my life because those
18:43 are my two grandsons WID and see that tree that's at the top broken off by lightning that is a Douglas Fur forers People call them du fur when you get down and stand underneath it it is that big around folks that was there in when the core of Discovery walked up the hill that's
19:07 where they walked up to L that's where Lewis walked and what did he see that's what he saw he said from which I discovered immense ranges of high mountains still
19:30 to the west of us with their tops partially covered with snow he could have said no Northwest Passage can turned around he could have said the end of the American dream for the Northwest Passage instead he went on down across
19:51 those lower Hills and met two women digging for roots at the end of the season they kneel to be Ted to be killed and instead he gave them face Pake beads breads they were
20:13 Overjoyed ran and it wasn't long before Horsemen 50 or 60 they debate the number rode up huged them all they were it was mosquito season so they were covered with bear Grease the National Hug was like this and Lewis had got hardly tired of the national H but he found the
20:37 Indians and of course you know the coincidence the Sago brother Kam was the chief I mean there's a dickan connection if ever and they traded for horses they traded for horses now but where did they go through all that where do they
21:00 go so Kam gives them a geography lesson and he says the salmon goes north and west and it goes to a great quing a Great Lake of water which was fly i l l y
21:22 tasted but it could not be passed either by boat or on foot or my H so what do you think leis and Clark did my God we're going to check it out I'll bet we can do it so old Toby guided them skillfully Clark they split up Lewis to trade for horses Clark to find whether they can
21:46 pass the S what was the answer you know that country it's called the River of No Return To This Day the River of No Return one of the deepest Gorges in North America but Clark went 22 miles spent 4 days but he came back really impressed
22:09 with toldy toy knew so he sent word there won't work get more horses we're going to take the North Fork of the salon and go over this pass now let me show you this p and here's where the conflicted cultures and maybe Lewis and cl's do or dying
22:33 attitude uh came into conflict today it's called Lost trail pass not because old Toby got them lost surveyors got lost up in there so let's Okay that's what it looks like
22:55 today that's an April shot it is very confusing a lot of times passes are very clear if you work your way up and up and up you get to the top it's real easy you go down there you can't go down there can't go down you got to go down there but lost trail pass which is between Salmon Idaho and
23:20 gar Montana is confusing it's almost like a plateau there are many passes you can't tell which way to go old Toby said okay our tribe goes this way we follow a creek we go up to the right here we go over into the Magnificent big ho Valley we camp there then we go up over this pass and we meet the Salish speaking
23:45 Indians at Ross's hole we call it Ross's hole today no what we're not going back East we've G out of our way enough we've got to get to the Pacific before winter we're going straight up up there big mistake old told we didn't know that way now can you see though why Lewis and
24:08 Clark were determined to go the shortest most direct way you've read enough about their temperament the determination so they get up in the North Fork of the salon I wish I had I've got some aerial shots of that uh but I don't think I could take time to do that but um
24:32 they got up the North Fork and they wrote in their journals the horses slip they got they couldn't get over the down timber the brush was bad the mosquitoes were bad the the beaver pugs were awful they were just complaining right and left and old told me and tried to tell them so now they get up to about the
24:55 area of the ski there's a ski area there now and there it had been raining and perhaps it was cloudy and foggy and they didn't know where to go bottom line is they went off to the West now Louis Mard they didn't want to go East didn't they they trying to go west so what would you do they we got to hang West we got to hang West told me
25:19 saying now if you go too far east you're going to drop off into the big ho Val so they West and West and Higher and Higher and they went folks four or five miles at least higher 2,000 ft higher out of our way but it wasn't old Toby's fault his
25:41 VI old Toby had never been there it wasn't the route that any of the tribes took so they finally found their way down and they did come down into a drainage of the Vio and met a wonderful group of Indians the S speaking Indians at Ross's pole which is a valley surrounded by
26:04 mountains and there's a famous painting up there and they got more horses so round one I give to Old Toby the core would have been wiser to have followed his longer route they'd have been in much better shape and saved time so OT toi was right on the main Fork of the salon he was right at lost
26:29 trail pass now we go to and they went down the bito valley which is beautiful today it's Darby in Hamilton it's a it's a tourist area it's beautiful this tent will be somewhere in uh the Dylan and Missoula area uh next year I think is when we get there it is beautiful their
26:52 log cabs for sale oh mountains on both sides there a lot of it is burned up by the way and then the little town of loo a creek comes in and that's the creek the chamate said take that Creek and take that trail and they Camp there and they called it Travelers Rest they know where the camp is because they found
27:14 mercury in the latrine does anyone know why they there would be mercury in the latrine what Med medicine for what everything matter everything but including STDs
27:36 so rested now and after a few days of good weather they head up the L Trail and on the classes tours that I leave uh we stop at two or three points on the loo meu Trail first place is how Creek now the discovery starts out fine up the valley and then the trail goes up into the mountains and folks when I say up I
28:01 mean up and up to The Ridges ridgetops only to have to drop down again at the first big drain which is Howard Creek oh and they complained about that they said um um terrible tra hard tra and some of the stragglers
28:25 didn't get into Camp until 10: p.m. there at night and folks this now is in late August early September and the days are getting shorter so that means the last 2 and 1/2 hours they would have been in full dark they're having a tough time but not only told his fault he's taking them on the trail the
28:48 trail now is the Nim food trail to the Buffalo back and forth from Western Idaho into the basins of Montana to hunt Buffalo h hundreds of ponies hundreds of ponies back and forth once or twice a year an easy trip the problem was the weather and the steepness and Louis CLK had no idea that
29:11 the Mountains of Montana and Ida open this tough yeah let's just show you how what that looks like okay we come back to
29:36 that okay uh there might even be some of you in here who have hiked this part of the trail with me but now look off to the right can you see the steepness of the Grave look up above the rock out crops that's the trail folks you get off that trail you're in big trouble there's
29:58 snow on that trail you have problems some of our some Nebraska teachers sitting on the ground outro I take teachers and others who are in love with the story looking out you see a v now where does it end where do the bit Roots end you look out from Long's pink and you
30:22 see the ples but not here you look out any direction and that is what you see the bitter roots are a big block that's been lifted up the valleys are v-shaped it is confusing you break a leg hunting there in uh in October you're in big
30:46 trouble blowdowns they complain in the journals about the blowdowns this is not old Toby's fault the uh as first knew they would just go around so the trail was always changing to some extent depending on the blowdowns uh so there is one place that old Toby got
31:10 lost and I'll admit it LOL Hot Springs have any of you been there sure beautiful place it's commercial it's tourist but I don't care it's beautiful it's been a hunting lodge since the late 18 HS and they were there the main spring is right where the building is and R Clark stopped there
31:35 and then old Toby got lost why did he get lost there well I think he might have been there I'll give him credit the reason he got lost I think is there were too many trailers why would there be too many trails at the great Hot Springs well all the wildlife came there
31:58 all the tribes came there everybody came there and so he had trails from every direction and he headed out probably on a game Trail or it could been a trail from a tribe from the north okay and after 2 or three miles they realized hey this is not veering around like it's supposed to It's supposed to stay close to the creek and
32:21 they got back on the right Trail and Lewis and Clark mentioned that in the journal that old to took them out on the wrong trail but that's understandable have you ever hyped and there are too many trails that's more of a worry to mean no Trail too many trails if you don't really know where the trail is supposed to go you are in
32:44 truck okay now back on the trail and they get to what Bill CL our state poet how many of know Bill herting Reed Lon Lincoln our state poet he wrote a whole book of
33:06 poems about Lewis and Clark TR and he has a poem about this place there is a metal it he folks I call this the world's most beautiful metal in any season here it is blue with a beautiful flower that the Indians dep on known as cus or quamish is how they wrote it in the
33:31 journals and there it is in Winter beautiful then too now with that picture of when bridge in the background Toby had two choices you take a somewhat easier but still rugged Trail and go down to the
33:53 beginning of the Locka River anyone better along the lock song now that's what old Toby did why did he go down with the Locka because that's where he had been because shonis probably could have gone up that
34:18 eastern part of the trail and down into the headwaters of the locksa to fish for salmon they fished for salmon on the L for near lemi pass so why not on the locksa and he knew the core was hungry so what makes more sense than to go the route that you knew to the
34:41 fishing areas and to get fish for the core now the other way is the main way supposedly the highway that sticks to the Divide between the locksa and the North Fork of the clear water now folks I've seen that that's where the Crooked
35:05 fire was in August of 2000 I saw the firefighters along the highway 12 they wouldn't even go down that precipice but that's where the trail went so even had told we taken them the highway just west just west of the pass down brooken Creek and back up again it would have been very
35:29 difficult so now he's down at the locksa and he has only one way now to get back up to the hike Trail and that is what we call today Wendover Ridge it is the world's greatest hike on a ridge now the first mile is a little tough The Nest Pur tribal members have been hired for the forest service to
35:52 build big long vehicle switch back in that first Mile and you gain about 00 ft but with that trail it's not bad at all I recommend to any of you have good ankles good knees hiking boots or shoes then after that you're on this Ridge for about 10 more miles and folks this Ridge is
36:15 perfect I've walked it in three different seasons just don't do it in tick season that Ridge goes all the way to the high Trail Gaines over 2,000 ft almost 3,000 ft and there's nearly a deep s on the whole R just up up up liid level up up up let me show you some more
36:40 slides it Wind Ridge is not often spoken of but it is a truly great height and you get scenes 360° cuz you can look off both sides of the bridge uh some of those most of those are Nebraska some are E's college students some are teachers and others from Nebraska
37:04 probably some from area and I don't have uh this year's slides entered into my oh sorry oh I will show this I hiked that's in April and it's uh in a few more feet I start getting into snow it had been raining and drizzling and I'm all decked down and my Gators and my raining Parker and I needed them thing is the ticks got
37:26 into all my layers uh so I really felt Goosebumps because I felt this must have been a day a lot like the day when Le up over rge and that's the river the locksa river now I will close by saying that they were on the trail the problem was getting up window
37:51 over Ridge was no weather it was wet and cold and snowy and they were short of food and were hungry they had been in some beautiful areas haacker Meadows for example uh the locks saww River and The Lodges the hunting lodges along there we sure to stop and Campell on there uh and another problem was there
38:15 was no water on the ridge so they had to go high enough to get to snow which they did and that that camp is called snowbank Camp then many hard miles to go but I don't I think old Toby knew that part because it was the har of best first country it wouldn't have been safe but the problem for Lis Clark was not staying on the trail the problem was
38:40 they were hungry they killed Colts they ate their famous or inFAMOUS portable suit a little bit like I guess bull cubes the men hated it and finally leis went on ahead got to we Prairie where they gorged on on cus roots and salmon and got so sick that
39:03 they were laying about and the nest Pur could have slipped their throats taken their state-ofthe-art har fa rles but an old lady Indian lady said oh I know these people I've heard that they healed people up at the Mad Villages don't hurt them and so they help now that's the end
39:25 of my old toly story with a quote from Tennyson then we have time for questions when a quote Tennyson it it is my favorite poems he closes one equal temper of heroic Hearts made Weak by time and fate but strong in
39:49 will to strive to seek and not to heal and Lewis and Clark and old told me and the expedition refused to yield they made it and old Toby was a huge help to them thank
40:12 you now we have 7 minutes so I'm pretty close for a college professor who's used to 50 minutes I did pretty good to stay within 35 or whatever it was what are your questions yes is this a map uh where they were would you tell us on this map oh excuse me on this map here uh over that map
40:34 which were M do you here for the beginning part when I had to slide up oh maybe I should go back to that slide I think well that those of you saw that map slide can I answer his question with that map slide
40:56 better I think so it was not I give so many programs on so many different angles that it it helps me to have um all my slides in one prr okay here it
41:16 goes point you wake up there it is okay this is hel about right in there and this is L High Pass where they met the Shi and to this is about lost trail
41:39 pass the first place I told you where he said go right into the big hole but they said no no we're going direct save time we can do it we're tough and this is the high meaning F Lolo trailer and W over Ridge and Packer meows and L hot
42:00 spr does that help yes thank you good okay I'll repeat the question the part of the uh trip that I'm talking about the Land Park from Camp fortunate near Dylan over to about Leon Idaho was
42:24 probably about 250 miles the whole thing though I have a student in here who can probably answer that anyone know the answer to the number of miles on a whole trip it was 6,000 and something have you ever been to the Confluence of the Missouri and the
42:47 Mississippi north of St Louis have you go there on the Illinois side they have a visitor center now you can walk back and you look across the mighty Mississippi and see the Missouri coming in and the Missouri is a presence that river right there has such a strong current that it washed out the visitor
43:10 center or the U The View Center on the Illinois side that current crossed all the way across the Mississippi and what an undercut underc Banks didn't I don't know if they have it repaired yet how much
43:34 Congress now we're into politics uh was it $2,500 about 2500 but oh there's so many ways to go with that question yeah that's what I was thinking about all that there in the time that I
43:58 have I can't answer all the spin-off questions Jefferson had been planed this Venture ever since he wrote the Declaration of Independence I'm convinced he tried four times to mount an expedition they failed he brought Lewis into his administration brought him into the White House Lewis
44:21 you're the man and leis was the man he was smart he was tough uh he only over spent Lewis over spent and part of the reason he got really down after the Expedition and he was governor was that people were criticizing him for spending too much money he couldn't get all of his
44:44 vouchers honor and he was on his way back to Washington DC to defend himself and his handling of the monies when he committed suicide least he died I think he committed suicide also there's a whole Louisiana Purchase and money for that was not approved to the extent they borrowed from Dutch
45:08 Banks so there you can say Jefferson was piss but he told first Livingston then Monroe you try to get New Orleans and part of the Mississippi River nobody dreamed that Napoleon would sell the whole thing except Jefferson and uh Jefferson and Napoleon were the two of the world political scene and they were playing a giant chess game and
45:33 Jefferson won Jefferson was one smart man and Monroe there and with Monroe signing the agreement see Congress would more likely approve very very interesting politics here some of the new englanders didn't like it too well because they thought the new states that would come in for the Louisiana Purchase
45:55 would vote unlik them and more like Virginia now I took too long to answer that question we have time for one more one more really tough question as a college professor that's
46:19 what we drive on we get the tough questions in L of salary by by the time died was all this money B by the oh that is a tough one her question is by the time Jefferson died had all this money been paid back for the Louisiana Purchase I have no
46:42 idea we may still be paying for it wow I need to give you a special pin that you can't even make a try except they borrowed from Dutch Banks and uh it was paid over time don't know what the interest was but I've read the document I'm not so sure it says the interest rate and there was plenty of
47:07 discussion about approving it but it was approved and by a wide margin and uh by the way uh Jefferson died um on July 4th the same day as one of our other great founding fathers who was who were friends than enemies and then F and they died on the same day that'd be a good place for me to
47:31 conclude it's 10 till 12 11 till give me credit it's 112 one minute early thank you very much than you once again Dr will L thank you for coming out and speaking today was a wonderful presentation Next program inside of the tent to many voices will start at
47:56 11:00 [Music] just you can you hear me okay uh I'm not a historian so uh I'm a Fisheries biologist by trade so for those of you who were sitting uh here a few minutes
48:20 ago listening to the professor from H's College I probably won't be quite that elegant but I'd like to tell you a little bit about the Missour River and what some people I.E uh government employees who are working for all of you are doing to help make the river
48:42 better we operate over the concept of a public trust concept and just the nitty-gritty you don't have to read all that thing but what that means is you have state and federal agencies that have the responsibility to look after resources that belong to all of you and the reason we have that in this country is because when we were revolting
49:03 against England many years ago uh over there only the rich people and all the land bearen owned all the resources they owned the land all fish and wildlife belong to those powerful people and when our forefathers created the United States of America they said we don't quite like that model so we'd like to change a little bit so that everybody
49:26 gets a piece of the action and I.E they made all the resources fish wildife air and lot many of the lands public which means you all have a St our goal for the Nebraska gate Parks Commission is uh intimately involved with natural resources in the state of
49:50 Nebraska for the Missouri River our goal is to restore protect and maintain the diversity of histroic Missouri River resources and ecosystem functions in order that present future Generations may enjoy that and maybe if you don't quite understand what all those ecosystem functions are don't worry about I'll explain a little bit and hopefully you'll pick it
50:15 [Music] up this is what the Missouri River looks like in Montana above great fall it's a cold clear stream it's outside of the road is probably what Lou and Clark saw when they went Upstream when I was there in uh a few years back uh there were so many trout
50:38 in the in the river that about every quarter to a half mile in the summer people were out there with their fly rods and spinning reels catching trout it's a real popular area lots of resources to enjoy uh caning kaying Al also all those other activities great fall of mon many of you probably heard this is one of the great portages of the ls and
51:01 Clark expedition but now right above the Falls they put a dam across it right in the city of great fall and so they kind of raised the level a little bit and I think there's a hyro plant next to but anyway this was the great fall L and Clark would have saw animals like this uh El this was real close to
51:23 Fort pet the two animals on the left are like four and five point Bulls and the big bow on the right is a royal El seven points on each side uh so this would be one of the Native species of they saw and of course uh consumed along the way the Missouri River has six big dams
51:47 on it since Lou and Clark they put it in there since 1942 they've got for pack in Montana sakaa in North Dakota Hawaii in South Dakota Big B uh Randall in South Dakota and gav point Dam Nebraska this happens to be fourth P it's the biggest
52:09 reservoir uh it is basically about 25 to 30 ft down now the river is managed uh and the water is managed for navigation for this river right out here it goes up and down so we got of those six res we got three big ones and then three little ones and the lower most one is the little but these uh reservoirs actually
52:32 cover up the historic Missouri River of the total approximately 2400 mil in the river about a third of it is under reservoirs like this and a third of it is channelized like you have right out here and a third of it is somewhat in its natural state and I'll show you picture one of the big uh issues in this day and age is how much water we should
52:54 leave in the river uh this so happens that these reservoirs are so big that they make a drastic impact but they've been lowering the reservoir so that they can put water out here for navigation that's one of the many purposes they have others uh Power uh water supply navigation Fish Wildlife food control uh generation
53:18 electricity about a mile Downstream from for Dan there is a uh river called the mil and and it is so turbid uh it almost looks about as brown as that sign right in the back of the room but this is a tributary the water in the Missouri of nowadays is relatively clear compared to
53:41 what it was during the Lou par uh Expedition the reason it's clear is because we have the reservoirs the reservoirs trap the sediment on the upper end and they release clean water below the dam and and the Clean Water picks up up set and moves it down stream one of the species of great
54:06 concern on the river nowadays is the little pal surgeon it's a native species it's uh been here forever it's a prehistoric uh species it's on the endangered spe species list this is one of the things that a lot of people are concerned about I always tell people well are you really concerned about that species I said yes I am because we do have uh statutory and management responsibilities but we're really
54:30 concerned about is what's causing the decline in species and that's usually I say endangered species are the canaries in the in the mine they're indicators that something's wrong and you you'll get to hear me talk a little more about that as we go on Fort Randle dam is the second largest stand uh it's right across the border from
54:54 Nebraska uh in South Dakota that's a downstream view pretty much the river looked like this when Lou and Clark uh came up River here's a down uh Upstream view but on the downstream side of D you see the sediment it's picking up there's an there's a process in the river that's called aggradation degradation and what
55:19 it does is the river picks up sediment from the sides and the bottom and deposits them Downstream and then that's called degradation and the location where the siment is deposited is called aggradation it's a natural phenomenon Rivers do two things they move water and sent from the mountains to the Sea and of course we're all kind of in
55:43 between we talk about the Clear Water below Fort Ram Dam you go there in a boat you can look 3 to 4 ft down in the water you can see real relatively clear and and that's how about how I'm looking about feet into the water to see the bottom of the CR the 30 uh between U Len Clark Lake
56:07 and Fort Rand is a Missouri River National record this is the 39 M reach below gav Point D there's a 59 mile reach call and that's also part of the national park system uh the lands you see right here I just took these pictures a couple weeks ago these are the same same scenes that L and Clark would have
56:29 seen as they went upam it's not real clear you can see it this little Hill right here is old Baldi in boy County R and if you get out on the river you can see it and Clark after after looking at it he said we landed near the foot of round M around M which
56:53 I saw yesterday resembling a d Captain Le and myself walked up to the top which forms a cult and is about 70 ft higher than the higher lands around the base is about 300 ft and descending this Cupa discovered a village of small animals that Burl in the ground R dogs this is the first time we saw PR but uh this is all on pivate land but if you're in a
57:16 boat you can see it about 7 miles below Fort Randall there's some natural stone and we uh refer to as a spawning bedstone because his strike some of the Native species that run up and down the river and they would spawn on this rock especially pfish soer uh and and
57:41 strw one of the things Lo clar and Expedition saw was many of these uh big wot WS that came from a tree that just fell in the river it was a common occurrence this happens to be one that is still in the river and it's at Bo County Line in uh Northern we we just have our agency has a boat ramp right next to it you can see
58:04 there's a boat right here but this this root water is so big and uh when it gets in the river it's not uh it's not lost it's a former carbon and it'll maybe last 100 years but it will slowly Decay away and release its nutrients into the environment of course there's other things in that 30 to 9 M reach these are
58:27 National W river section so they have many of the scenic values of of wild Scenic River some of the lands along the way this is actually in the Gras on the south side we're about 10 or 12 miles down stream you can't see it very good but the water is still pretty much kind of
58:51 clear greenish and that's a difference between came and when what we have in this day and age the water uh usually would be turbid uh historically but now we have some water of a a green clear water just more of the scenes we have
59:13 some really s uh Banks along the river you really get to feel like you're in a wild and sea River when you either take a boat or to do that one of the things we've done is we're trying to make the river accessible to people and you know it was only 10 20 years ago everybody was complaining yeah it's a nice River but we can't get to it so our agency uh
59:38 developed a program and put in boat ramps every public boat ramps every 10 to 20 miles and our goal was actually uh one every 2025 so our objective was to get access so people could go out and enjoy the riv sandb barss were a real common feature in the historic Missouri River you can
1:00:01 see some of the SES and grasses and risal and little cotton sh uh that they're part of that aggradation degradation process sandor uh sand formation was really good for Fish A and L and Clark actually camp on quite a few of them you read the termin um right in this general area we're kind of right below palka State
1:00:25 Park uh we've got got Eagles that are nesting on the river now these are two young ones that have fled out of the nest and they're just about ready to fly we also have people fishing for small M baths and we have lots of uh waterf including these
1:00:47 Pelicans that bank just happens to be at the Standing Bear Bridge uh going to Nebraska over into uh South Dakota so it is in South Dakota but these these types of banks are historically uh part of the landscape train in L Park would sto I'm sure to look at it and
1:01:10 observe I talked about that degradation aggradation process we're trying to keep this olivan ecosystem and what's what's happened is below Fort Randall is that clean water has picked up siment from the sides and the B bottom of the river and moved it Downstream about 30 some miles and stacked it up on the upper end of L and
1:01:33 Clark Lake and so this is all that siment that's been in the river kind of just been uh packed in there for about 50 years now here's the mouth of the N right here and it dumps about 55% of the siment into the Missouri River and the sediment is coming from the the watered even though the N River has a lot of
1:01:58 grasslands and everything it still provides about 55% of the siment into the Missouri and and the rest of siment is coming from a couple tributaries up in this area uh and also the river proper ofour talked about that sediment here's
1:02:23 I was up there on a sunny day you can see the siment coming in this would be a view from P St Park