Just received this from Buck, possible threat to a neat site, read on. - -------------------------------------------- Denver News Wednesday,Nov.8,2000 Lewis & Clark Memento Threatened. by Jim Robbins ________________________________ The New York Times. POMPEY'S PILLAR, Mont. - On the side of a sandstone bluff here, the explorer William Clark carved his first initial and last name and July 25,1806, the only place along the journey of several thousand miles where physical evidence of the Lewis & Clark expedition remains. Now as the West prepares for an influx of tourists who will trace the travels of Lewis & Clark during the bicentennial, a grain-exporting company is building a high-speed grain-loading plant in the shadow of the National Historic Landmark. The construction has raised the ire of historians, nationally and locally, who say the looming presence of four 150-foot concrete cylinders will ruin the ambiance of the isolated site. "It would be a shame if those silos go through," said Dayton Duncan, writer of Out West, a 1987 book on the Lewis & Clark and, with Ken Burns, writer and co-producer of the PBS documentary on the two men. The pillar, Duncan said, contains more than the marks left by Clark. "Not only did Clark sign it, but some of Custer's men had a skirmish with Sitting Bull, and their names are there, and there are Indian names." The plant is one of seven high-speed grain-loading plants being built in Montana by United Harvest of Portland, Ore. Construction began in August, but it was stopped in September after it was discovered that the company has never received an air quality permit from the state. The Pompey's Pillar Historical Association, a Montana non-profit group, appealed the permit in October, and state officials say construction will not resume until hearings have been held. The pillar is on the banks of the Yellowstone River, on 473 acres owned by the Bureau of Land Management, about 30 miles east of Billings, Montana's largest city, and is surrounded by farmland and pastures. Opponents of the grain elevator say the landscape has changed little since the 19th century. "It doesn't take much imagination with those vistas to imagine yourself as William Clark or Custer" Duncan said. "We spent a lot of time evaluating sites and after several months this is the only one that presented itself," said Chris Davis, business development manager for United Harvest. "We don't feel a facility like this would be out of place." Davis pointed out that the elevators would be just 100 yards from Interstate 90. Dan Krum of Worden, Mont., chairman of the Pompey's Pillar Historical Association, said the fight has sparked interest from Lewis & Clark aficionados around the country and some have sent donations as large as $500.00, anticipating a long battle. "They say they want to be good neighbors," Krum said of United Harvest. "But what they've done so far doesn't point to that." ____________________________________________________________

Later, Daniel L. "Concho" Smith Research & Documentation for: _____________________________________________ HISTORICAL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ________________________________________HRD__ Visit these period camp sites at: http://pages.about.com/dlsmith/ http://pages.about.com/conner1/ http://pages.about.com/buckconner/ _____________________________________________
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