Let's welcome the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail

Cape Girardeau is sitting on a tourist bonanza: we're located on the Great River Road, Mississippi River Trail Bikeway, and Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

We can now add another multi-state route to the list: the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

Thanks to the John D. Dingell Jr., Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law on March 12, the official Lewis and Clark trail was extended by 1,200 miles along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers between Pittsburgh and St. Louis, including Cape Girardeau.

Traditionally, history books state the Lewis and Clark Expedition started from Camp Dubois near St. Louis on March 14, 1804. The members of the expedition, however, did not magically teleport to St. Louis. Much of the previous year was spent gathering supplies, recruiting men, and traveling down the Ohio and up the Mississippi rivers to reach the winter encampment. This "Eastern Legacy" is now being recognized as an important part of the journey.

The National Park Service had previously completed a feasibility study which found extending the Lewis and Clark Trail "could result in increased visitation along trail corridors. The increase in the number of visitors to the area would not be expected to be substantial, but these visitors would result in greater visitor spending, which would create small but beneficial ripple effects in the local economy."

The study explained that, once approved by Congress, the National Park Service would forge local partnerships for "resource protection, visitor experience, and education." Our own Red House Interpretive Center was specifically listed as a potential trail partner. The Red House, a reconstruction of the trading post of Cape Girardeau's founder, Louis Lorimier, was built in conjunction with the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark arriving here Nov. 23, 1803.

Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal about his brief visit to the fledgling community at the edge of the wilderness, providing a rare glimpse of Lorimier and life at Cape Girardeau. Lewis caught up to Lorimier at a horse race, and it seems that Lorimier was not doing well in the wagering, having "lost four horses on the race which had been valued at $200."

Lewis had dinner that evening with the Lorimier family, and was then escorted on horseback to "Old Cape Jeradeau" (near today's Cape Rock Park) where William Clark and the crew had made camp for the night.

This is an important event in the history of Cape Girardeau. Other cities along National Historic Trails have taken advantage of their histories to develop tourist attractions. St. Joseph, Missouri, recently partnered with the National Park Service to conduct an intensive planning meeting (or "charrette"). The end result was a plan to construct a trail retracing a portion of the Pony Express route and redevelop the city's riverfront park.

Cape Girardeau should seize this opportunity. Perhaps the existing riverfront trail could be extended north to Cape Rock to retrace the route Lewis took to reach the campsite at "Old Cape Jeradeau."