July: Sporting in ParksAs international athletes gather in Tokyo, how do you explore the joy of sport, spirit of competition, and fair play in your favorite park?As the world comes together to celebrate sports and sportsmanship, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, NPS parks, programs, and partners can also invite people to discover the endless recreational opportunities in national parks and trails. In the spirit of sportsmanship, what are some ways that we work together with partners to make these opportunities available in parks and communities? Or how can people can share these experiences with others?
Featured NPS.gov/lecl WebpagesTraditional Native Games A compilation of articles about traditional native games.Honoring Tribal Legacies: Traditional Native Games Along the Lewis and Clark Trail This curriculum is wide ranging in its overall design, providing lessons about Native games for students in grades K–12. Overall, the lessons are largely meant to inform, enrich, and inspire students to learn more about themselves and their communities by engaging in competitive Native games with their peers. Through the unique cultural lens associated with games, students will discover the long and rich heritage of excellence in competition fostered by tribal cultures along the Lewis and Clark Trail. Looking for something ready-made to share?Tchung-kee (chun-kee), a game of skill using a ring and pole, was played on a special field constructed outside of the villages where the ground was smoothed and packed hard for a distance of about 50 yards.Played by Mandan and Hidatsa men and boys – the game was likely observed and possibly played by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the early Spring of 1805. #SportsInParks, #LewisandClarkTrail https://www.nps.gov/articles/traditional-games-tchung-kee.htm Tribes of North America enjoyed many traditional games, passed from generation to generation, and tribe to tribe. One game played by numerous tribes, all across the continent, was Double Ball. Played almost exclusively by women, Double Ball has a lot of similarities to our current-day lacrosse. #SportsInParks, #LewisandClarkTrail https://www.nps.gov/articles/traditional-game-double-ball.htm Social Media hashtags: #SportsInParks, #FindYourPark, #FindYourTrail, #LewisandClarkTrail Lewis and Clark Events That Happened This Month(ready made posts to share)On July 4, 1804, the Corps of Discovery observed the first Independence Day west of the Mississippi. The men camped in the area of today’s Atchison, Kansas. It was here where Captain Clark named two small streams in honor of the holiday – 4th of July 1804 Creek and Independence Creek. #LewisandClarkTrail More: https://www.nps.gov/articles/lewis-and-clark-s-fourth-of-july-1804-in-kansas.htm After departing Travellers Rest on the return journey, Lewis and his detachment followed the Cokahlarishkit Trail, or “Road to the Buffalo,” to cross the Continental Divide. The trail, which had been identified to Lewis and Clark by the Nez Perce, had long been an established transportation corridor for American Indians. On July 7, 1806, they passed through the Alice Creek drainage. Lewis described “much appearance of beaver many dams” and noted that the “bottoms not wide and covered with low willow and grass.” #LewisandClarkTrail More on Alice Creek: https://www.nps.gov/places/alice-creek-historic-district.htm On July 19, 1805, Lewis wrote, “this evening we entered much the most remarkable clifts that we have yet seen. these clifts rise from the waters edge on either side perpendicularly to the hight of 1200 feet. every object here wears a dark and gloomy aspect. the tow[er]ing and projecting rocks in many places seem ready to tumble on us. the river appears to have forced it’s way through this immence body of solid rock for the distance of 5¾ miles and where it makes it’s exit below has thrown on either side vast collumns of rocks mountains high. the river appears to have woarn a passage just the width of it’s channel or 150 yds.” More on Gates of the Mountains: https://www.nps.gov/places/gates-of-the-mountains.htm During the return journey, Lewis decided to explore up to the headwaters of the Marias River in order to determine if it extended north of the 49th Parallel (thereby expanding the northern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase), and discover if there was an easy portage between the Marias and Saskatchewan rivers (which could route western Canadian fur trade to the Missouri). Why did he name this area Camp Disappointment? https://www.nps.gov/places/camp-disappointment-mt.htm The Two Medicine Fight Site represents the first encounter between the Blackfeet Nation and the United States, the first military conflict between the United States and a Plains Tribe, and the only violent encounter between the expedition and American Indians of the entire journey. Learn more: https://www.nps.gov/places/two-medicine-fight-site-mt.htm On July 25, 1806, while descending the Yellowstone River, Clark “arived at a remarkable rock Situated in an extensive bottom on the Stard. Side of the river & 250 paces from it.” He wrote that, “this rock I ascended and from it’s top had a most extensive view in every direction. This rock which I shall Call Pompy’s Tower [named for Jean Baptiste ‘Pomp’ Charbonneau] is 200 feet high and 400 paces in secumphrance and only axcessable on one Side which is from the N. E the other parts of it being a perpendicular Clift of lightish Coloured gritty rock on the top there is a tolerable Soil of about 5 or 6 feet thick Covered with Short grass. The Indians have made 2 piles of Stone on the top of this Tower. The nativs have ingraved on the face of this rock the figures of animals &c. near which I marked my name and the day of the month & year.” #LewisandClarkTrail More: https://www.nps.gov/places/pompeys-pillar-mt.htm On July 25, 1805, the expedition finally reached the headwaters of the Missouri River. It was here that Sacagawea had previously been kidnapped by the Hidatsa during a raid on a Shoshone camp. #LewisandClarkTrail Read more: https://www.nps.gov/places/three-forks-of-the-missouri-mt.htm |
Last updated: January 28, 2020