History under foot

The nearby town of St.Helens has built a walkway in the park leading up to the courthouse. The meandering path provides an intriguing glimpse at history. The stones have quotes from Lewis' and Clark's journals engraved in them. (Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were sent by President Jefferson in 1804-1805 to find a water route to the Pacific, and to map, chart and observe things along the way.) They kept detailed journals, recording and sketching plants, birds, encounters with the Indian tribes they met. The journey was a success, the only man they lost is thought to have died of inflamed appendix. They wintered near the mouth of Columbia river; you cannot go far here without running into some commemoration of them. The pictured stone says: "The Chief ... directed his wife to hand him his medison bag which he opened and Showed us 14 fingers... the fingers of his enemies which he had taken in war." Clark
Interesting reading, all of it.