Lewis And Clark Return

The Lewis and Clark Discovery Expedition came back to Kaw Point this week and set up camp.  Authentic to the bone in dress, habits, tools, and boats the re-enactors started their voyage in Plattesmith, Nebraska and will return to their base in St. Charles, Missouri on October 1st.  Above is a cooking kettle and flag in the camp with the KC skyline in the background.   The Expedition leaves Sunday morning for Ft. Osage and after that moves on to Lexington and points east.

 The two pirogues tied up on the bank of the Kaw.   Their were three on the first voyage to start out.  They are much larger than I thought.  42 men were part of the original expedition.  These craft frequently had to be rowed or polled even though equipped with sails.  And often carried overland to avoid falls or other obstacles.    Next images Cole, in white garment, explains the use of the craft.

 Above, the large square engine (a modern requirement) is shown... below, Cole shows how the gear was stowed below decks.

 It's not to hard to imagine the scene above without the skyline.... then you have what they saw in 1804.

 Showing how the Captains kept their journals....

 Captain Lewis studied medicine under Dr. Rush in Washington for three weeks prior to the beginning of the voyage.  That training combined with his knowledge of herbal medicine he gained from his mother was all they had in the way of care on the whole trip.   The most serious medical emergency was when Captain Clark was wearing his animal skins and was accidentally shot in the buttocks by one of the crew (true).  He was eventually fine but had to travel on his stomach for a while.

 Above, surgical knife used for amputations.  One of the crew had to have some toes removed due to frostbite... but nothing more serious in the way of limb removal.   Below are some of the herbal treatments that they had.   Some had modern equivalents.  Peruvian Bark below was used to treat malaria... and just happens to naturally contain quinine...   When Sacajawea, their soon to be Indian guide, was having difficult labor at Ft. Mandan, Capt. Lewis was called upon to  aid her in some way.
He had heard from a trapper the rattle from a rattlesnake powered and put in liquid would help.  He instructed she be given that and it worked.    Modern analysis showed that the powder contains one of the same chemical compounds used today to induce labor.

 While the Expedition was essentially military in nature it was run by the Captains in a very democratic fashion with each member of the crew getting one vote... including York, the slave, and Sacajawea...
The first instance of voting by either in what would become the United States.


                          

 Making a "tinder nest" out of hemp.  Create a kind of bird nest, then, using flint and the proper steel create sparks until you get a small ember.  Put the ember in the tinder nest and close with your hands.  Blow on it gently until, voila, fire....

 Above, copperhead skin, below, rattle snake skin.  If you absolutely have to get bitten, choose the copperhead.

 The Mandan Indians were very helpful to the Expedition.  At Ft. Mandan the crew took on Charbonneau and his wife Sacajawea.   She was allowed to go along in order to help negotiate with her original tribe the Shoshone.   In fact her brother was the Chief.  She started on the journey with a 4-month old baby and made the journey, with child in tow, all the way to the west coast and back to Ft. Mandan.  Her daughter and son were taken to St. Louis and educated there.   She died, in only her twenties, just a few years after the expedition.  

 

Rail Road

                                        One last shot from a trip to the West Bottoms.

Bridge Members

  West Bottoms.... western portion over the Kaw.... pedestrian bridge on left, vehicle traffic bridge on      
                                                                              right.

Bridges Over The River Kaw

                                    Pedestrian, auto, and rail heading to Kansas City, Kansas.

Dodge

                    West Bottoms resident.   Nikon D3, 14-24mm.  Exposure not remembered.

Night In The Bottoms

Nighttime trips to the West Bottoms are favorites of mine.  Last night was one such excursion. Below the 12th Street Viaduct with the skyline.. looking east.

 Nikon D800.  ISO 3200.  F56 at a 20th for most shots.  Ignored the meter.  Going for a Tri-X kinda  

                                                                        look.

Much more activity down there now even at night as more and more people are moving into the newly renovated warehouse spaces.  Lofts abound.  Never used to see anyone, now, runners, dog-walkers, people sitting on stoops chatting.   

 I still find the architecture at night enchanting..mysterious.  And black and white is perfect to convey  
                                                            those kinds of emotions.

              Above... a tabby adopted me on my trek... stayed with me the whole time I was down there.

                                               Above, alley-glimpse of KC's downtown.

                                                                     

Coffee Shop I just discovered... must give it a try... in daylight.

From My Other Grandmother's Trunk

 Well, sorta from the trunk.  I found a group of negatives in my Mother's wedding album.  They were of images I have never seen before.   Mother and her parents moved down to Kansas City in 1932 from Hastings, Minnesota.  Grandfather worked for the railroad and that's where the job went.   In the Depression ... you went with it.   They first rented a house in the 200 block of Denver.  Then my Grandfather bought a house for back taxes, $750, at 143 South Drury.  They moved there in '33 or '34.
At about this same time my Mother got a dog... Mack.   A series of photos were taken celebrating that acquisition and showing the new house.... originally built in 1897.    Above my Grandfather's 1932 Plymouth (I think that's the year and model).   Plymouths were the "Grandfather Approved Make"... so our first two cars were Plymouths also.   This view is looking south from the driveway in back of the house.

 Mother and Mack in front of the house.  The Wards lived one door South, and the Forest's lived one door north.   Jack and JoJo Forest donated the large, stained glass, window that is behind the altar at Holy Cross.  Father Powers knew JoJo.

 Mack in the back yard... the Forest's garage in the background.

 Mother with new dog and existing cat (don't know the cat's name)... in the driveway... looking west.

 Mack on a stool by the fence along the back of the property line...  rooftops belong to houses along South Oakley.   There was an alley-way behind the fence.  It was forbidden territory... so, I headed out there every chance I got.  :)

 Mack in an unknown Park... I would love to be able to identify the location so if any reader's have a notion let me know.   Definitely local.... KC or Independence.

 Above, Mother, Jeanne Johnson Remley, and Grandmother,  Frances Johnson Johnson in the backyard... looks like Spring.  Also looks like the remains of a chicken coop in the background.  It wasn't there when I was growing up.

 Mack on the front steps with the Forest's house in the background.  Jack Forest owned a sign company with it's office in a store front on Grand.  We always sat in his second floor shop windows to watch the American Royal Parade go by.

 Dog and cat in driveway peaceful co-existence.   In the far background is the field where Azariah Budd has his dairy barn.... remnants of which existed into the 60s when two houses were built on the site.  

 Mother and Grandmother and Dog on the porch....  the house looks remarkably the same today.

 Grandmother and Grandfather, Harold E. Johnson, in the backyard....  all dressed up so it was probably Sunday after church at Children's Memorial Lutheran, Independence Avenue and Brighton.
My father grew up in a house at 645 South Brighton just down the street from the church.

 There was a large storage container in the yard when they first moved in.  I could guess for fuel.... but it would just be a guess.   The gravity furnace, at this time, burned coal.  It was converted to gas later on.

 Above, JoJo Forest makes a cameo with the dog.   She was a very nice lady...

 My Grandmother and Mack in the same, unknown Park... looks like maybe western Independence area?  

 More dog on stool.  Mack lived into the 40s.... I know because my Mother said he hated my Father....

 Mother, Dog, and Unknown Lady on the porch.    

Above, from 10 years or so later, in the 40s... in with the same batch of negatives.   Grandfather front with Mack.... Grandmother on the right in back.... Mother in the center... and, I believe, the others are Grandmother's relatives visiting from Minnesota.  

The rarest picture of the bunch.  Taken in the late 20s... my Great Grandmother Amanda Johnson and her Husband (whose name I will have to dig for) on the farm in Hastings, Minnesota.  He passed on before I was born, but, she was a part of my life.  

    Negatives were scanned on an Epson 3200 at 1600 dpi.   Whole images are shown, no cleanup.