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Lewis-Clark re-enactors launching boats on Mon at Elizabeth
Friday, September 01, 2000 By Marylynne Pitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Many rivers run through the arduous expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the risk takers who mapped a route to the American West between 1803 and 1806.
Most historians date the famous duo's voyage to May 21, 1804, because that marked the beginning of their push westward. But Lewis first set sail from Elizabeth Borough on the Monongahela River on Aug. 31, 1803.
Today, a Missouri man and his 19-member crew of re-enactors launch two flat-bottomed, wooden boats called pirogues into the water and set off from Elizabeth tomorrow .
The three-week trip by the nonprofit Lewis and Clark Discovery Expedition echoes the start of the explorers' perilous journey, which took them more than 8,000 miles in two years and four months.
Glen Bishop, 76, of St. Charles, Mo., leads the crew, whose trip is a trial run for a journey in 2003, the 200th anniversary of the famous voyage.
The two boats will stop in Downtown's Point State Park at 1 p.m. tomorrow and stay through Sunday.
Lewis arrived in Pittsburgh on July 15, 1803. He quickly grew impatient when Capt. John Walker failed to finish construction of a 55-foot-long keelboat by the end of the month.
In a letter to President Thomas Jefferson, Lewis complained that Walker was lazy and drank frequently.
Bishop formed his own opinions about the famous explorers.
Bishop believes that Lewis "could drive a person to drinking. He was pretty persistent with this Walker. He was there looking over his shoulder every minute.
"Clark was always my hero. Clark was the real leader of the men. Lewis was the dreamer of the bunch and probably was more intelligent. But I don't think he was as good with the men as Clark was."
For Bishop, the fun began 18 months ago as he led hundreds of volunteers in building replicas of two wooden pirogues used to carry the men who accompanied Lewis and Clark.
The white pirogue is 39 feet long and the red pirogue is 41 feet 6 inches long. Each boat, made of treated yellow pine, cost $25,000 and took 3,000 hours to complete.
A former electrical and construction contractor, Bishop relishes the relaxation that comes from working with his hands.
"That's when I have my greatest comfort," Bishop said in a telephone interview this week.
Building the pirogues was less time-consuming than the task Bishop began by himself 18 years ago.
Bishop, who operates a stained glass business called The Glass Workbench , said he had no interest in history until residents of St. Charles started a five-day festival called the Lewis and Clark Rendezvous.
"We decided we needed a boat for this festival. So, I started building a boat. I had worked on several small boats. I had never completed one before," Bishop said.
To learn more about boat building, Bishop pored over editions of a magazine called Wooden Boat. A friend in Washington, D.C., sent him drawings of Lewis and Clark's boats from the Smithsonian. Done by a naval architect, the drawings appeared in a National Geographic book about the Lewis and Clark expedition.
A 55-foot keelboat gradually took shape in Bishop's back yard. Then, in 1992, the boat became a float in a Washington, D.C., parade that marked the 500th anniversary of Christopher Colulmbus' landing in America.
"We took first place in the parade," Bishop said.
Unfortunately, the boat burned in January 1997 during a fire that damaged a warehouse Bishop used for his stained glass business.
It was after that that Bishop and his wife of 51 years, Jean, founded the nonprofit organization and decided "we would build all three boats. The keelboat is about half done. All the exterior is done but we have to finish all the inside stuff. Next summer, we will have it in the water."
With the help of many volunteers, Bishop began again and a new keelboat will be ready in the year 2003. Volunteers have hailed from Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Arkansas and Washington.
"People would come and stay for a week and work on it. Some of them would come for a weekend. One guy came from Washington state. He's doing our Web site," Bishop said.
The keelboat was not ready for this year's trial run.
Building the historic replicas has consumed Bishop.
"I'm the kind of person who likes to set a goal, reach that goal and move on. This project was different because there was so much public interest. My wife kind of shocked me the other day when she said that it's taken over our lives. It's constantly fun," Bishop said.
The pirogues traveled from Missouri to Pittsburgh on Interstate 70, packed into custom-made trailers.
Bishop's wife will not travel on either pirogue.
"It's hot and sunny and there are no potties," she said.
Instead, Jean Bishop will travel by car, accompanied by the couple's black Newfoundland dog, named Meriwether. Lewis and Clark's male Newfoundland dog was named Seaman.
Unlike the boats used in the original voyage, Bishop's pirogues will have outboard engines of 40 or 50 horsepower.
"They are in the middle of the boat so they are concealed," he said.
Bishop especially loves the hospitable people he meets in small river towns.
"We did all of the Ohio River last year from Louisville to Fort Massac, which is near Paducah, Ky. That fort existed when Lewis and Clark came through," he said.
Boat fanciers and history buffs can follow the expedition's progress on the Web at www.lewisandclark.net .
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