"Here Is Where," is the latest column on the
Intelligent Travel blog. In conjunction with his upcoming book, "Here Is Where: In Search of America's Great Forgotten History" we're going to follow historian and Legacy Project founder Andrew Carroll as
he drives, flies, walks, boats, buses, bikes, and hikes to seek out
little-known historic sites in all 50 states. Bookmark all of his posts here.
Most accounts of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's three-year trek across the continent have the expedition beginning in Missouri on May 14, 1804. But the first journal entry was in fact written by Lewis on August 31, 1803--from Pennsylvania.
"Left Pittsburgh this day at 11 ock with a party of 11 hands 7 of which are soldiers, a pilot and three young men on trial they having proposed to go with me throughout the voyage," Lewis notes in the first line. Two sentences later we learn how close the whole journey came to unraveling from the get-go; while one of his crew mates was holding an "airgun" Lewis had brought, the rifle accidentally discharged and shot a bystander in the head. "[T]he ball passed through the hat of a woman about 40 yards distanc," Lewis writes in his error-ridden prose. "[S]he feel instantly and the blood gusing from her temple... [but] in a minute she revived to our enespressable satisfaction."
They departed soon after.
I thought the site would be a fitting a place to officially start my own coast-to-coast adventure, so I flew into Pittsburgh from Washington, D.C. (my home) the evening of July 5th. David Grinnell, who is the chief archivist at the Senator John Heinz History Center and could not have been more helpful, informed me that the site was near the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge at 11th street (pictured, above).
Most accounts of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's three-year trek across the continent have the expedition beginning in Missouri on May 14, 1804. But the first journal entry was in fact written by Lewis on August 31, 1803--from Pennsylvania."Left Pittsburgh this day at 11 ock with a party of 11 hands 7 of which are soldiers, a pilot and three young men on trial they having proposed to go with me throughout the voyage," Lewis notes in the first line. Two sentences later we learn how close the whole journey came to unraveling from the get-go; while one of his crew mates was holding an "airgun" Lewis had brought, the rifle accidentally discharged and shot a bystander in the head. "[T]he ball passed through the hat of a woman about 40 yards distanc," Lewis writes in his error-ridden prose. "[S]he feel instantly and the blood gusing from her temple... [but] in a minute she revived to our enespressable satisfaction."
They departed soon after.
I thought the site would be a fitting a place to officially start my own coast-to-coast adventure, so I flew into Pittsburgh from Washington, D.C. (my home) the evening of July 5th. David Grinnell, who is the chief archivist at the Senator John Heinz History Center and could not have been more helpful, informed me that the site was near the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge at 11th street (pictured, above).
David had alerted me to the fact that a marker was recently erected in
the vicinity of the launch (the sign says it happened "100 yards
downriver"), but to me the spot still counts as forgotten history
because the story is relatively unknown. David also told me about
another site of great historical importance that is not marked: the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge.
What makes it significant is that the original structure was a
wire-rope suspension aqueduct built by John Augustus Roebling in 1844.
It was his first bridge. Roebling pioneered the use of thick wires in
the construction of suspension bridges after seeing a railway car being
pulled up a steep mountain with traditional hemp rope. It snapped, and
Roebling watched in horror as two men were killed in the accident.
Right next to the Fort Wayne Bridge is the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The architect, Rafael Vinoly, designed the building with a tension-cabled roof that allows the inside to be free of columns and therefore seem open and expansive. Vinoly also created it as an homage to John Roebling. It is an appropriate, if little-known, tribute to the man who designed, among many other iconic American landmarks, the Brooklyn Bridge--and who died before seeing it completed.
Next stop: Chicago.
All photos and text © Andrew Carroll.
Right next to the Fort Wayne Bridge is the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The architect, Rafael Vinoly, designed the building with a tension-cabled roof that allows the inside to be free of columns and therefore seem open and expansive. Vinoly also created it as an homage to John Roebling. It is an appropriate, if little-known, tribute to the man who designed, among many other iconic American landmarks, the Brooklyn Bridge--and who died before seeing it completed.
Next stop: Chicago.
All photos and text © Andrew Carroll.
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