Knife Handled by Lewis and Clark? (LA Times article)

I live near Astoria, OR where the knife came out of the archives recently. Locally it's a big deal. People are starting to gear-up for the Bi-Centennial of the Lewis & Clark expedition. Lots of contention between Astoria and a camp on the Washington shore where L&C spent some time. The knife will be going on display shortly. Pretty interesting stuff if you're a history buff.
 
Hey Drop Point,

If you're able to take a photo of it, I'd love to see a decent picture of it posted online. I'll bet folks here in Shoptalk and over at the Neo-Primitive site would find it of significant interest, too. The LA Times print version simply has a photo of a guy in the archive holding it -- appears to be a trailing pt (can't even be sure of that; poor lighting), with maybe a 5" blade.

BTW, welcome to the forums --

Glen

PS: What's the contention between the Astoria and Washington campsite folks?

[This message has been edited by storyville (edited 10-09-2000).]
 
This knife isn't really that new. See page 169 of Carl Russell's Firearms, Traps, and Tools of The Mountain Men. At one time the knife in the museum carried a label crediting it to Lewis and Clark's blacksmith. The last time I was in the museum (a couple of years ago), the Lewis and Clark credit had been removed. I have the impression that it may have been pulled from public viewing after that when they decided they couldn't document the credit. It would be nice if they would run some tests to at least place an age on the knife. The local paper ran an article about a couple of knifemakers making 1805 replicas for the celebration this year at $595 a pop.
 
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