WALLACE W HANSEN

Native Plants of the Northwest

Native Plant Nursery & Gardens

2158 Bower Ct S.E., Salem, Oregon 97301 E-Mail: Wallace W Hansen
PHONE (503)581-2638 FAX(503)581-9957

Updated October 10, 2003

Wallace Hansen Celebrates Lewis and Clark's Bicentennial

Botanical Discoveries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Snowberry (Symphoricaropus albus)

Idaho's Bitterroot Mountains, September 20, 1805

Specimens for Snowberry were lost or destroyed during the trip. However the Charleston Museum has a garden specimen grown from seeds possibly gathered by the expedition. Specimens were gathered possibly near Pattee Creek, Lehmi Co., Idaho, on 13 Aug 1805, or in the Bitterroot Mountains on September 20, 1805.

This Northwest Native shrub has lovely pink or white bell-shaped flowers and pure white berries which usually last well through winter and often into spring, providing food for birds and other wildlife. Beautiful in the landscape. We especially like it planted with native roses for winter interest. The rose's red hips and Snowberry's white fruit make a charming combinationn.

You will find Snowberry specially priced in our Fall Containerized Sale, along with many other attractive and desirable Northwest Native shrubs and trees.

(Click on pictures for large views)

At this time in 1804:

A fine morning. Wind from the S.E. At about 11 o'clock the wind shifted to the N.W. We prepare all things ready to speak to the Indians. Mr. Tabeau and Mr. Gravelines came to breakfast with us. The chiefs, &c., came from the lower town, but none from the two upper towns, which are the largest. We continue to delay and wait for them. At twelve o'clock, dispatched Gravelines to invite them to come down. We have every reason to believe that a jealousy exists between the villages for fear of our making the first chief of the lower village. At one o'clock, the chiefs all assembled, and after some little ceremony, the council commenced. We informed them what we had told the others before, i.e., Otos and Sioux. Made three chiefs, one for each village. Gave them presents. After the council was over, we shot the air gun, which astonished them much. They then departed, and we rested secure all night. Those Indians were much astonished at my servant. They never saw a black man before. All flocked around him and examined him from top to toe. He carried on the joke and made himself more terrible than we wished him to do. Those Indians are not fond of spirits- liquor of any kind.

Captain Clark, 10 October 1804

We know the "black man" mentioned here was York, the man Captain Clark "inherited" as a slave from his father. York and Clark became lifelong companions though much of this association was as one human "owning" another.

York was, to the native peoples the expedition met along the way, the most curious and interesting of the entire traveling group. Though the expedition included quite a variety of people such as farmers and frontiersmen from Virginia, fur trappers who were French-Canadian, a young Indian woman and her baby and even a dog, York was the one person everyone wanted to see.

York shared all the duties of the enlisted men and was often called upon as a showpiece, paraded about and ordered to dance, and stood while the native peoples "examined him from top to toe." Though this was undoubtedly humiliating and degrading treatment, York retained his personal grace and the journaling expedition members noted that he appeared to enjoy showing his physical abilities to the native visitors.

Though regularly treated as a sort of sideshow (and  In truth, many of the expedition were put on display whenever the native peoples showed an interest in seeing them), Mr. York was allowed rights unheard of for an enslaved man. He carried a weapon and was given a vote on where to establish the winter camp along the Pacific Ocean in 1805.

He repaid these allowances many times over, even risking his life to save Clark in a flash flood on the Missouri River near Great Falls in present-day Montana. He hunted and brought in much game for the larder, saw to pitching the captain's tents, worked the sails and rowed when needed, in general doing much the same things all the other men in the expedition did. As the adventure progressed, the travelers forged themselves into a team, a pioneering family that came together to explore the continent of North America.

This painting is by Idaho artist, Roy Reynolds. We think it depicts this outstanding man as he probably was in real life.

York did not take the denial of his request well for he had a wife in Louisville that he wanted to be with. Instead, he was made to stay in St. Louis with Clark. In May 1809 Clark wrote that York was "insolent and sukly, I gave him a Severe trouncing the other Day and he has much mended."

Eventually, Clark did free York and as severance gave him wherewithall to start a freight business between Nashville and Richmond, including a wagon and six horses. It is said that in his later years, York entertained companions with stories about his adventures with the expedition—stories that reportedly became taller with each telling. It is also said he became a heavy drinker which may have been a factor of the growing yarns. It sounds to us as though he was not unusual in the socializing and storytelling. As we age, we often remember the past as a bit more glorious and exciting than we noticed it being the first time through.

According to letters written by Captain Clark, York died of cholera sometime between 1822 and 1832 somewhere in Tennessee. He is likely buried in an unmarked grave.

Current events:

From the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Oregon website at http://www.lcbo.net/:

July 13 - November 15, 2003: Reflecting On Lewis & Clark: Contemporary Native American Viewpoints, Maryhill Museum of Art. Curated by Pat Courtney Gold, Wasco Nation of the Warm Springs Confederated Tribes of Oregon, this exhibit features contemporary artwork by nationally recognized Native American artists who have created paintings, sculptures, and traditional artifacts that interpret and express their thoughts on the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803-06. Reception on July 13 will include a solo flute performance by James Greeley (Hopi/Wasco) and traditional tribal dances by Native American dancers. Contact: Maryhill Museum of Art, (509) 773-3733.

Signature Event Contact:
Dell Courtney
Falls of the Ohio Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Committee
PO Box 2246
Louisville, Kentucky 40201
Phone: (502) 292-0059
E-mail: dellcourtn@aol.com
Website: www.fallsoftheohio.org/lewisandclark.shtml

"Down the Great Columbia"

Living history at Sacajawea State Park, Pasco, WA

October 18, 10 am - 5 pm

Programs last approximately 45 minutes.

Please bring a folding chair and a flashlight.

All programs are open to the public for a $2.00 per person fee which includes parking for the duration of the program. Program parkins is available near the interpretive area at the campground entrance. Call the Park Ranger at 509-337-6457 for additional information. Programs may be cancelled due to inclement weather.

Location: 1726 Washington Street, Oregon City, OR 97045

(503) 657-9336 (503) 557-8590

End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center Website staff@endoftheoregontrail.org

Description: The End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center was built in 1995 on the former Donation Land Claim of the first elected governor of the Oregon Country, George Abernethy. A merchant and miller by trade, Abernethy had a vested interest in the continued growth of Oregon City, so he permitted newly arrived emigrants to park their wagons, graze their oxen, and set up camp on a meadow behind his house. That meadow came to be called Abernethy Green, and for many of the early Oregon Trail emigrants, it truly was the Trail's end. 

Alternative approaches are via State Routes 213, 99-E, and 43. The Interpretive Center is just off the end of SR 213 -- turn left at the last light before the Interstate. Taking 99-E or 43 gives you the option of cutting over to Washington Street on the surface streets if you're familiar with Oregon City, but it's easier to take northbound I-205 to Exit 10 from both roads. 

Here's a handy tip for those arriving on 99-E: the entrance ramp from 99-E is a continuous lane that becomes the exit ramp for SR 213, so you are spared from having to merge with the through traffic on the Interstate.

Back Issues:

To see back issues of Wallace Hansen Celebrates Lewis and Clark, click on this link to jump to the index. 

Commemorative Painting by Heidi Hansen:

The illustrated map below was created by renowned botanical artist Heidi D. Hansen especially for this website. Done in ink and watercolors, Heidi shows many of the plants Captain Lewis documented overlaid atop a map showing a portion of the journey. (Click on image for large view). All the plants pictured are available from Wally Hansen! See our online catalog for more information.

Good luck and happy gardening!

Wally

Click here to return to my Home Page

Questions about plants, click here:  Regular Email to Wally

To order, click here:  Secure Email to Wally

Comments or questions about our web site, click here: Webmaster