STATE TO OBSERVE LEWIS, CLARK TRIP; BICENTENNIAL PANEL TO MEET HERE

On Nov. 23, 1803, Meriwether Lewis came ashore at the trading post owned by Don Louis Lorimier in Cape Girardeau while William Clark continued with their boats the three miles north to Cape Rock. Lewis dined with Lorimier, his wife, Charlotte, and their large family.

Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery were ascending the Mississippi River to St. Louis, where on May 14, 1804, they officially began the expedition President Thomas Jefferson hoped would open the West to America.

Next month, another group of travelers will stop in Cape Girardeau, these bent on gleaning local views about how the Lewis and Clark expedition should be commemorated in 2004.

Members of the Missouri Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission will meet with citizens from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 17 at Southeast Missouri State University Center. One of their interests is hearing local ideas about interpretive signs that will be erected along the route to tell the story of the expedition.

Lewis apparently had a fine evening with the Lorimier family. He found Lorimier charming and described one of the commandant's daughters as "much the most descent looking feemale I have seen since I left the settlement in Kentuckey a little below Louisville." In the following months he recommended two of Lorimier's sons for appointment to West Point.

The Southeast Missouri part of their journey was important preparation for the expedition, says Ann Rogers, a St. Louis historian who wrote the book "Lewis and Clark in Missouri."

"It served the purpose of being sort of a preface to the journey. Clark does some mapping. He maps the area around Tower Rock. They both do some journal writing. And they share command."

Rogers compares that part of the adventure to "a shakedown cruise. You're learning the things you're going to have to know on the expedition."

She is one of the commission's 14 members. Besides scholars, the body also includes people involved in business and tourism. Secretary of State and Cape Girardeau resident Bekki Cook is a member.

The commission is planning the commemoration and will act as the state's official liaison to other organizations -- in Missouri, in other states and nationally -- that are planning Lewis and Clark events. One group in the St. Charles area proposes to retrace the entire mission, beginning at Jefferson's home in Monticello, following the Missouri River west to the Pacific Ocean and finally returning to St. Louis.

The commission already has hosted public meetings in Rocheport and Jefferson City. Others will be held in St. Louis, St. Charles, Lexington, Ste. Genevieve, St. Joseph and Kansas City before the commission begins formulating its plan for the celebration.

"2004 seems a long time away," says Tami Holder, the commission coordinator. "But actually we could probably use another 10 years to get ready."

The expedition was an important passage in the history of the state and of St. Louis in particular, Rogers says. "It turned a tiny French fur post into the fur capital of the U.S. and the gateway to the West."

Missouri has a major role in the story of Lewis and Clark as well. "Most people would say the expedition really began with the 600-mile crossing of Missouri and ended two and one-half years later when their boats reached the riverfront of St. Louis," Rogers says.

"We're the beginning chapter and the ending chapter."