Landmarks having to do with Lewis and Clark:
A landmark is a mark for designating the boundary of land.
The Gates of the Mountains:
The Gates of the Mounatins are located near present day Helena, Montana.
The walls are made of limestone. As Lewis and Clark were sailing down the
Missouri they met these big walls of limestone. They are named The Gates
of the Mountains because at the beginning of the mountains it looked like
the walls or mountains were parting.
The Great Falls:
There are five falls in all. The falls are outside of present day Great
Falls, Montana. The falls were a great menace to Lewis and Clark. It took
18 days just to get around them. The portage was a 16 mile hike. They had
to make wheels to haul the canoes up and around the falls. Sometimes the
men on horses fell off tumbling down 20 foot falls down the side of the mountain.
At the portage they couldn’t take the pirogue around the falls.
Rocky Mountains:
The Rocky Mountains are located all the way up in Alaska and all the
way down to Mexico. The Rocky Mountains go through Glacier National
Park. Lewis and Clark thought that the Rocky Mountains would
be only a couple of hills like the Appalachins they were used to in the eastern
colonies.
Three Forks:
Located where the Madison, Jefferson and Gallatin rivers join the Missouri
River. These rivers were named after great heroes of democracy, Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison, and
Beaver’s Head:
The Beaver's Head is the landmark that Sacagawea recognized as the landmark
her tribe knew as the Beaver’s Head .
Continental Divide:
The Continental Divide is an imaginary line that runs down the whole length
of the Rocky Mountains. The Continental Divide prevents rivers
and tributaries from running across it East to West or West to East.
Pompei's Pillar:
Pompey 's Pillar is located just a few miles out of what is now known
as Billings, Montana.
Pompey’s Pillar is also located on the Yellowstone River. It is also
a flat top rock that is 200 feet up in the air. Named by Clark after
Sacagawea’s son John Baptist who got the nick name of “Pomp”.
Clark carved his initials and the date of the discovery of the pillar.