Lewis and Clark on the Map

In my last post, I mentioned a book that I was reading, The fate of the corps : what became of the Lewis and Clark explorers after the expedition, and it started me thinking about how often the names Lewis and Clark show up on Montana maps.  There is Lewis and Clark County, Lewis and Clark Caverns, and Lewis and Clark National Forest.  There is a Lewis and Clark Elementary School in Missoula Montana and all sorts of motels and other businesses with a Lewis and Clark tie-in.  I grew up on Lewis Street in Livingston which runs parallel to Clark Street. There are several other Lewis or Clark streets and Avenues across Montana.

Lewis and Clark are not the only members of the Expedition immortalized on the map.  The Shields River and Pryor Mountains are two examples that come to mind. In the little town of Wilsall, in the northern part of Park County, a town with only a few streets, there are Lewis Street, Clark Street, Ordway Street and Shannon Street, all names of expedition members. Then there all of the locations named for Sacajawea and her son. There are Sacajawea schools, streets, parks and peaks.  Pompey's Pillar, named for Sacajawea's son, is one of the most famous spots along the Lewis and Clark Trail.    Even York, who traveled with the expedition as a slave owned by William Clark, and who recieved no pay for his part of the expedition, is remembered on Montana landmarks. York's Islands in Broadwater County is the location of a state fishing access.   There is a town in Lewis and Clark county called York, but I am not sure if it was named for the slave without checking it out further.