THE BEGINNING OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPOSITION

PATREON: www.patreon.com/exploreoregon This has been a long time coming and it's going to take a long time to tell it all. In 1905 the city of Portland, Oregon held a massive exposition event commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which passed through Oregon 100 years earlier. The expedition also celebrated scientific, industrial and commercial accomplishments from several places, in particular the Pacific Northwest, along with promoting the relationship and trade that the west coast held with Asian nations. This single event would change the city of Portland in ways they couldn't have imagined, even though they hoped to benefit royally from such an event. In this first part I lay the ground work for the event that was to come: How the event came about, who helped it blossom, and the early issues to address along the way. Because this story is so full of depth, even while leaving some bits and pieces out of my telling, this first part only gets us from the end of the 1890s to the spring of 1903 (still two years before the Exposition actually started). In this piece I discuss the individuals who were involved as well as the financial and location aspects that needed to be addressed to allow such a project to move forward. Get ready, cause this is only the beginning!