547 - Graner Park and Sugarloaf Bottoms
The Missouri River holds many stories of years long passed. Stories of trade, transportation, wildlife, Native Americans, and sustenance, among others. The westward expansion of the United States of America depended on the life, vitality, and resources provided by the Big Muddy, its banks dotted with history, serene swaths of land with towering cottonwoods and soaring eagles. Graner Park and Sugarloaf Bottoms, the land surrounding you, is no exception.
The famed Missouri River is depicted in many journals and accounts of the great Lewis and Clark Expedition. Meriwether Lewis was given instructions by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the Missouri River for the purposes of commerce as he had envisioned a trade route across Western America to the Pacific Ocean. These instructions would set into motion what was to become perhaps the greatest exploration in the history of North America. The land before you is part of this story.
In October of 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition reached North Dakota. Imagine what the explorers were faced with. Unfamiliar land. Changing, inconsistent weather. And unparalleled beauty. Every day, a new adventure. Every day, new learning.
On Friday, October 19, 1804, the expedition, with a fine morning wind at their backs, arrived near this very spot to camp. Buffalo and elk were hunted for food, as well as deer. Golden eagles were observed, along with an abandoned earth lodge village, recorded by Captain Lewis as their first encounter with ruins of the Mandan Nation. Nearly two years later, on Tuesday, August 19, 1806, the expedition would travel through Sugarloaf Bottoms again. While the landscape, wildlife, and surroundings had remained relatively consistent, there was one notable change. Instead of a fine morning wind, the expedition was met with winds of great violence and clouds of sand. Even then, more than two centuries ago, the wind along the shores of the Mighty Missouri was varied, either pleasant or miserable. Nonetheless, we are connected to it, to this great river, and the history embedded in the landscape.