Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 53 raphy suited to our economic ambitions as a budding world power—were shattered here in a humble marsh. When Lew- is and Clark realized that they would have to traverse the Bitterroot Mountains on foot, they also had to reckon with the fact that the sought-after Northwest Passage was noth- ing more than a cherished myth. But as important as this moment was to our national his- tory, what earns Travelers' Rest its distinction lies in the ground—the multiple lines of tangible evidence that point to the Corps of Discovery's presence over 200 years ago. Notably the only archaeologically verified Lewis and Clark campsite in the country, Travelers' Rest remained for de- cades one of those frustrating little Lewis & Clark mysteries poked and prodded at by scholars and amateur aficionados alike. When the landmark boundaries were first drawn in 1960, they were drawn to "hopefully" encompass the camp- site's actual location. At the time, it was thought that the campsite might have been closer to the mouth of Lolo Creek where it empties into the Bitterroot. In 1998, Robert Bergantino at Montana Tech in Butte made an educated guess as to the location of Travelers' Rest based on the Corps' journals. Armed with USGS aerial pho- tographs and maps, Bergantino used the Corps' first-hand accounts to try and ascertain the camp's location. A concurrent study used aerial infrared photography to look for anomalies in the landscape. This team agreed with Bergantino that Travelers' Rest had likely been farther up- stream, but for a different reason. They surmised that, being led by a Native American guide along a Native American trail, the Corps would have camped alongside a Native American campsite (evidence of which they found with their infrared). Native American trails crisscross the canyons and ridges of the Bitterroots, and while most have been obliterated by log- ging roads, a couple miles of trail here and there can still be glimpsed in the mountains between Lolo and Missoula. The speculation about Travelers' Rest was finally resolved thanks to the work of the Travelers' Rest Chapter of the Lew- is and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation (LCTHF). Chuck Sundstrom twice served as the Chapter's president and has retained extensive records of the chapter's history. Found- ed in 1987, this small but dedicated group has worked over the years to develop interpretative programming about Lewis and Clark. Chapter members founded the nonprofit Travel- ers' Rest Preservation and Heritage Association in 2001, now known as the Travelers' Rest Connection. The Connection se- cured funds to buy the initial land for the park the same year. Along with a team of volunteers, Chapter member and ar- chaeologist Daniel Hall conducted several remote sensing investigations to pinpoint archaeological anomalies that could hint at a non-Native campsite location. Magnetome- ter, electromagnetic conductivity, and metal detectors were all used to scour the creekbanks for evidence of a von Steu- ben encampment pattern. Lewis and Clark were both military men and they ran the Corps of Discovery accordingly. They would likely have adhered to this popular encampment pattern strategized by Baron Frederick William von Steuben during the Revo- lutionary War and published in his "Blue Book." The von Steuben encampment pattern basically amounts to a row of tents, a row of fire hearths behind, and behind that, a row of latrines (or sinks). Traveler's Rest HAS EVOLVED TO SERVE AS A VEHICLE FOR THREE INTERTWINED STORIES: THAT OF THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY; THE STORY OF THE SALISH PEOPLE; AND THE STORY OF THE AREA'S NATURAL HISTORY. DALE DUFOUR

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