CRAMER: HOUSE EXTENDS LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION TRAIL BOUNDARIES

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Kevin Cramer supported legislation passed by the House of Representatives today extending the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail by 1,200 miles.

H.R. 3045, the Eastern Legacy Extension Act, amends the National Trail Systems Act to set a new eastern boundary of the Trail at Pittsburgh, Penn., following the path of the Ohio River. The Trail currently encompasses 3,700 miles west of the Mississippi River from Wood River, Ill., to Astoria, Ore.

Cramer, a former North Dakota Tourism Director, said this legislation will allow for greater historic interpretation of the beginning stages of the famous expedition which opened the American West in the early 19th century.

“Because Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery spent more time in present-day North Dakota than any other state, North Dakotans are very familiar with the significance of this historic expedition to the Pacific West,” said Cramer. “This legislation will better tell the story of how the expedition was organized before it began its journey west.”

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson obtained funding from Congress to dispatch Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on an expedition to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean across the nation’s newly purchased Louisiana Territory. The journey ended on Sept. 23, 1806, two years, four months and 10 days later. 

Cramer said the National Park Service studied the route extension proposed in H.R. 3045 and found it to be nationally significant, suitable and feasible. The study was authorized in 2008, and since becoming a member of the House of Representatives in 2013, Cramer has supported the completion of the study. It was submitted to Congress in February.

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