"Walk In The Footsteps of Lewis and Clark"

Today, the BLM manages what remains of the public domain involving 261 million acres of public lands and waters mainly in the Western States and Alaska, including many of the States carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. The BLM, with a budget of about $1.9 billion, administers 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate throughout the Nation. The BLM in the 21st Century continues to implement President Jefferson's message to Captain Lewis to find "...Other objects worthy of notice will be the mineral productions of every kind..." The BLM also has stewardship responsibilities for over 300 miles along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and manages some of the most spectacular landscapes and historic sites that were a component of the original Corps of Discovery Expedition.

Clark Days at Pompey's Pillar National Monument - July 25

During the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commemoration, the BLM is implementing the Secretary of the Interior's citizen-centered, community based stewardship of Consultation, Cooperation, and Communication: all in the service of Conservation - through its sustaining partnerships and project work with communities and Tribes along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. The BLM's goals for the Bicentennial Commemoration are to provide accurate visitor information and educational and interpretive material; to ensure public health and safety; to enhance and upgrade infrastructure; to involve the Tribes in all aspects of the Bicentennial Commemoration; and to develop sustainable partnerships at all levels. The BLM public lands and waters in the Eastern States, Montana/Dakotas, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington are serving as a museum without walls for visitors to embark on their own journeys of discovery.

General Land Office and Cadastral Survey

President Thomas Jefferson's instructions in the confidential message to Captain Lewis are elements of the BLM mission and program priorities. "Instruments for ascertaining, by celestial observations, the geography of the country through which you will pass . . . . The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River, and such principal streams of its, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregan, Colrado, or any other river, may offer the most direct and practible water-communication across the continent, for the purposes of commerce."

After the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the surveyors from the General Land Office began the daunting task of surveying the vast public domain. These early surveyors implemented the Land Ordinance of 1785 which provided for the systematic survey and monumentation of the Federal lands into townships and sections. Using the Public Land Survey System which was created by President Thomas Jefferson, in 1805, the General Land Office Surveyors marked the principal meridians, base lines, standard parallels, guide meridians, township lines, and section lines. The BLM finds its roots in the General Land Office (GLO) which was established in 1812 to administer the Public Domain. The U.S. Treasury Department authorized the GLO to sell vast tracks of public lands to repay the debts incurred during the Revolutionary War and encourage settlement of the new territories. According to the Land Ordnance of 1807, Captains Lewis and Clark each received 320 acres of public lands, while each member of the Corps of Discovery received 160 acres of Federal Land from the GLO for their extraordinary accomplishments.

Settlers, homesteaders, veterans, towns, new States entering the Union, railroads, agricultural and mechanical colleges and universities, private companies acquired these public lands. Millions of acres were set aside to establish Indian Reservations, national parks, forest, wildlife refuges, and military reservations. The land disposals built the country's economic foundation, opened the West to settlement, and united the vast expanses of land into one Nation.

The rectangular system of surveys is a marvel in simplicity. It was this system and the cadastral surveyors who transformed it from a plan on paper to regular lines upon the land that provided for the swift and orderly settlement of a vast Public Domain to become a reality. Much of the perception of America's heritage is closely intertwined with this settlement -- from the first trailblazers, pioneers, homesteaders, and miners, to the railroads, timer and cattle industries, to farms, ranches, cities, and highways of today. The BLM cadastral surveyors in the 21st Century perpetuate the legacy left by their GLO predecessors by employing the latest innovations in measuring technology to achieve the most accurate boundary information possible. The BLM is also the custodian of over 9 million historical land documents of the General Land Office - survey plats and field notes, homesteads, patents, military warrants and railroad grants. These documents are now computerized and are accessible at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov. Even today, these records are valuable resources for natural resource agencies, historians, title companies, and genealogists.

Pompeys Pillar National Monument

During his return trip to St. Louis, Captain William Clark climbed the mesa of Pompeys Pillar and carved his signature and the date in the sandstone, July 25, 1806. Clark wrote, "This rock I ascended and from it's top had a most extensive view in every direction on the Northerly Side of the river high romantic Clifts approach & jut over the water for some distance both above and below...I marked my name and the day of the month and year." In his journal, Clark named the Pillar "Pomp's Tower." Pomp was Clark's nickname for young Baptiste Charbonneau, infant son of Sacagawea, the Shoshoni woman who accompanied the Expedition and contributed greatly to its success. "Pompy" means "Little Chief" in the Shoshoni Language. This historic carving on the sandstone butte that Clark called a "remarkable rock" has inspired generations of visitors for more than 100 years.

Pompeys Pillar is at a natural ford in the Yellowstone, River. Additionally, the mouth of Pompeys Pillar Creek, on the north side of Yellowstone, and mouth of Fly Creek on the south, form natural passageways leading to the river ford at Pompeys Pillar. This area has been a crossroads throughout history for hunters and their prey such as the once prominent buffalo herds. In addition to Clark's signature, the sandstone is marked with literally hundreds of other etchings and drawings. Clark noted evidence of Native American use, " . . . The Indians have made 2 piles of Stone on top of this Tower. The natives have ingraved on the face of this rock the figures of animals . . ." Fur trappers of the early 1800s, military expeditions, railroad workers, surveyors, and settlers used the sandstone as a registry of their passing, In a very real sense, Pompeys Pillar's sandstone facets hold a vivid history of the unfolding West.

Pompeys Pillar National Monument, managed by the BLM, is about 25 miles, east of Billings, Montana. The BLM currently operates a small visitor center in partnership with the Pompeys Pillar Historical Association. Every Friday night at 7:00 p.m. in the summer, the BLM provides evening program presented by guest speakers, living history presenters, and park rangers. On April 24, 2004, the BLM held a public groundbreaking ceremony to mark the construction of the new Pompeys Pillar Interpretive Center. The architect's rendering of the new facility presents a 5,600-square-foot facility which is scheduled for completion in May 2005. On July 22-25, 2006, Pompeys Pillar National Monument will be the site for the National Signature Event, "Clark on the Yellowstone." The National Signature Event will focus on Clark's journey down the Yellowstone River, the longest free-flowing river in the lower United States. Visit, http://www.clarkontheyellowstone.org.

  
Pompeys Pillar National Monument - New Visitor Center - Artist's Rendition

Visit the Pompeys Pillar website at: http://www.mt.blm.gov/pillarmon/

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