American West Program at Colorado State University Follows the Trail of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

The final talk of the American West Program for the summer on July 1 will explore the physical evidence – and the challenges and varying successes – of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-06.

Ken Karsmizki, executive director of the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles, Ore., will present "The Search for Lewis and Clark" at 7 p.m. in Room 104 in Albert C. Yates Hall on campus. Tickets will be on sale at the door for $7.

Karsmizki, a historical archaeologist, will present his research on the expedition’s campsites on both sides of the Continental Divide and evidence of cargo the expedition members carried as trade material. He also will provide his assessment of the challenges to the expedition and the varying successes in establishing relationships with other peoples and commercial and political interests.

The Lewis and Clark expedition, the first United States overland exploration of the American West and Pacific Northwest, began in May 1804 and ended in September 1806. The expedition, commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, was led by Army officers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and covered a total of about 8,000 miles from a camp outside St. Louis, Mo., to the Pacific Ocean and back.

For the past 16 years, Karsmizki has been engaged in an archaeological search for evidence of the campsites, an effort that represents the only sustained archaeological search of its kind anywhere in the United States. Karsmizki’s search is the focus of a Discovery Channel documentary that first aired in June 2002. He is currently working with the History Channel on another documentary on the technical aspects of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

For more details on parking, tickets and the lecture, call Anne Bond, coordinator of the American West Program, at 491-6418.