Spirit of Adventure

I hope this doesn't look like too much of a self serving blip. You'll judge that at the end of this comment. This has been entered into the weekly challenge for Spirit.

In the early 1800's the young United States was in the East. The far West, was a large expanse of unknown land, especially west of the Mississippi river. Thomas Jefferson had a vision and he enlisted the aid of Meriwether Lewis, who brought in William Clark and one thing led to another and soon Lewis and Clark and their band of merry men which included Clark's slave, York, his dog Seaman, and eventually Sacagawea, the Indian woman who pointed the way, were off to explore the unknown. It truly was the spirit of adventure. There are many sources to find out about this great American adventure, if you like to read about American history. You can buy a copy of the original journal by William Clark. That is a bit tedious, even though I haven't read it. So, let me recommend Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose. I found it fascinating.

This book is a book by Wallace G. Lewis (no relation to Meriwether Lewis), who is a professor of history at Western State College in Colorado. Colorado University Press published this book and when they went in search of a cover image they Googled Lewis and Clark and this image of a statue at the End of the Trail in Seaside, Oregon popped up. University publishers don't have a lot of money, so they try to do things on the cheap. They contacted the photographer of this image and offered $45 and two copies of the book and photo credit, when published, if they could have permission to use this image for their book jacket.

I said yes!! :>)

PS You have to look hard for the photo credit. On the back of the cover, in the lower right hand side, in very small print, the very last sentence says, Dust Jacket..blah, blah...; photograph of Lewis and Clark statue (front) Seaside, Oregon, by Sue Collins.

Hey, at least it's there somewhere!! My "spirits" were lifted, believe me.