The spot where Lewis and Clark set up camp near today’s Fort Calhoun, Nebraska was just a few dozen yards from the banks of the Missouri. Since then the river has shifted northeast about a mile. In July 1804 at this place, a site which later became known as Fort Atkinson, the Captains hosted the first official council between the United States representatives and the western Indians. For this reason, it’s often referred to as “council bluffs.”
The Yellowstone Expedition of 1819 established Fort Atkinson as the first U.S. military post west of the Missouri River, based upon the recommendation of William Clark. Between 1820 and 1827, the fort was home to the first school and library in Nebraska, became the gateway to the fur regions of the Upper Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, and served as the starting point for several early expeditions to the Mexican settlements of Taos and Santa Fe.
You can visit a reconstructed 1820 log fort at the site. The Harold W. Andersen Visitor Center is open daily May 27 – September 4 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on weekends May 6 – May 21 and September 9 – October 8. Special “living history weekends” with live interpreters are May 6/7, June 3/4, July 1/2, August 5/6, September 2/3 and September 30/October 1. For more information, go to:www.fortatkinsononline.org
The fort is just outside of Fort Calhoun, about 15 miles north of Omaha.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.