THE QUARTERLY
OF THE
Oregon Historical Society.
THE LEWIS AND CLARK CENTENNIAL.
THE OCCASION AND ITS OBSERVANCE.
Much that seems favorable, and not a little that is clearly unfavorable, has come to the Lewis and Clark Centennial because its date is just a year later than that of the Louisiana Purchase Centennial. A striking advantage in this close succession is, however, still to be used. It is the idea of a centennial at Portland in the Columbia Valley in the very next year following one at Saint Louis on the Mississippi that needs to be exploited. In this close succession of these two centennials of the access of the American nationality to regions of which one lies far beyond the other we have the key to the fullest interpretation of the national significance of the anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Nothing else could so tellingly exhibit the basis for a peculiar national interest in our anniversary as the fact that it is virtually contemporary with that to be observed at Saint Louis. The purchase of Louisiana bears practically the same natal relation to the western half of the Mississippi Valley that the Lewis and Clark expedition does to the Pacific Northwest. This the average American citizen no doubt finds it hard to realize. Oregon, however, can boast age over
