Lewis & Clark expedition still having impact

For Americans -- especially Americans who live west of St. Louis -- the Lewis and Clark Expedition carries considerable significance.

If it were not for the history-making journey 200 years ago, life would be much different in this land we now call home. The westward movement would probably still have happened, but it would have been much later and much different than the pioneering movement inspired by Lewis and Clark's "Corps of Discovery."

For that reason, it's fitting that every one of us -- man, woman and child in the American West -- take time to pay memorial tribute to the Lewis and Clark party during this, the Bicentennial, of their historic journey.

They opened the doors of settlement for us. They showed that this great land, stretching all the way from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, possessed both scenic wonder and immense potential for development.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition also proved that the Louisiana Purchase was one of the best land deals in all of history, with the U.S. buying 529,911,680 acres of land from France for $15 million. That figures out to -- get this -- less than 3 cents an acre.

We owe a lot to President Thomas Jefferson for pursuing the purchase and bringing it to reality in 1803. We also are indebted to President Jefferson for having the vision to call upon Meriwether Lewis, who in turn called upon William Clark, to join in leading the "Corps of Discovery" to explore the vast lands stretching from St. Louis to the Pacific Coast.

As a direct result of their historic journey, the United States was able to claim the Oregon region as part of the U.S. In addition, Lewis and Clark's journals of the expedition were important sources for describing the natural resources and native peoples of the American West.

In remembrance, let us pay proper tribute. How do we do that? According to Dayton Duncan, a Lewis and Clark scholar, it doesn't matter too much how we remember the expedition. "Don't get overly hung up on how you do it," Duncan told David Hendee of the Omaha World-Herald. "It is the spirit that you undertake on your journey (of discovery) that is important," he said.

In their expedition, the Lewis and Clark party traveled along the Missouri River from St. Louis to Kansas City, then up the "Big Muddy" along the Nebraska-Iowa borders, through South Dakota, and North Dakota, then onward through what are now the states of Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

It was an historic journey that changed the face of America, and probably changed our individual lives, too. Because -- if it were not for Lewis and Clark -- we would probably not be living in McCook and the other places that now make up the scenic and spectacular American West.