Lewis, Clark celebrations to continue upriver

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Less than seven weeks into their two-year journey, the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery stopped upstream from this river town and fired the keel-boat's cannon to celebrate the 28th birthday of the fledgling nation it was exploring.

In coming weeks, hundreds of thousands of tourists are expected to flock to Kansas City and nearby communities to recall an event planners have dubbed "the First Independence Day in the American West."

There will be fireworks, period music and food, and a touch of patriotism with flags flying from nearly every home in the Kansas towns of Atchison and Leavenworth.

Re-enactors will tell children and their families how the crew lugged the keelboat upstream, battling insects and telling the American Indians along the route of a new chief, President Thomas Jefferson.

Tribes from the region, including some who were relocated when settlers arrived, will put on demonstrations and provide a different perspective for visitors. The arrival of the explorers was in some ways the beginning of the end of traditional Indian lifestyles in the West.

Visitors might even learn about the extra portion of whiskey the crew received when the expedition stopped to celebrate the Fourth of July near present-day Atchison, Kan., about 40 miles northwest of Kansas City.

"That was like getting an extra paycheck," said Beverly Hurley, spokeswoman for Kansas Travel and Tourism. "Whiskey was given out as a reward, like cash today."

The explorers also named two streams, dubbing one Independence Creek and the other Fourth of July 1804 Creek.

Hurley said the area also is important to the expedition because in a spot near present-day Kansas City, Kan., two men standing watch for the expedition stole more than their allocated share of whiskey. They were court-martialed and whipped that same day.

The celebration, "Heart of America: A Journey Fourth," is one of 15 National Signature Events in the Lewis and Clark bicentennial celebration.

Economic impact numbers weren't available, but all the hotel rooms in the host cities of Atchison and Leavenworth are booked, said Karen Seaberg, the chairwoman of the Kansas Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission.

Though Atchison and Leavenworth, along with Kansas City, Mo., are the official hosts, many nearby communities have decided to cash in on the Lewis and Clark frenzy. In the weeks surrounding the Fourth of July, re-enactors with the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, Mo., and their replica keelboat will make stops in Sugar Creek, Mo., Parkville, Mo., St. Joseph, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., and White Cloud, Kan. The communities will offer everything from horse-drawn wagon rides to performances by American Indian drummers and dancers.

Kansas -- home to 123 miles of the Lewis and Clark trail -- has spent $9 million to add signs and hiking and biking trails, and revitalize parks along the river. The goal was to provide something that would remain long after the bicentennial is over.

"We don't want those who come after us to forget this important heritage in Kansas," Hurley said.