By Wyatt Buchanan

The story of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark is one of the great exploration adventures in United States history, with the two men trudging across the continent surveying the new land and leading the way for westward expansion.
But the story is often told from the explorers’ point of view and much is left out or not known — like how the whole trip nearly ended in Nez Perce Indian country, as the tribe considered killing the men and their invading entourage.
"A lot of people don’t know the original intent was to do away with them," said Josiah Pinkham, Nez Perce tribal ethnographer. An elderly tribal woman had spent time with white people and was treated kindly, so she implored the tribe to do the same to Lewis and Clark, Pinkham said.
"From that point on we decided to treat them good." It’s telling stories like this, and letting tribes share their half of history, that is the goal of a bicentennial anniversary project spearheaded by researchers at the University of Idaho.
"Lewis and Clark historians are numerous. Historians who focus on the Native side of the story are few and far between," Pinkham said.
The project, called "Lifelong Learning Online" is funded by a two-year, $3.6 million grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. UI is working with the University of Montana and Wheeling Jesuit University to build a Web site that integrates history, math and science built around the Corps of Discovery expedition, said Jean Teasdale, project director.
"Our whole purpose is to inspire people to learn and we use Lewis and Clark because it is an interesting topic right now," Thomas said.
On their expedition, Lewis and Clark encountered plants, animals, lands and cultures they had never seen. How they gathered information on the land and how they learned to adapt can teach students and others how to explore new things, Teasdale said.
This information is being in a Web site that went live in January, more information will be added over time. The site will have different location-based information from different sites along the expedition trail. Some of these sites include Philadelphia, Great Fall, Mont., and St. Louis. There will also be information on non-location aspects of the trek, like the buffalo – its habitat, history and demise.
Using this model, Teasdale said there are plans to create a similar type of Web site for the planet Mars. "Louise and Clark" will be the fictional gender-balanced duo who use the same exploration techniques of Lewis and Clark to gather information on the Red Planet. The site will be targeted to fifth and sixth graders, Teasdale said.
But the site is more than an informational tool. Project coordinators also see their work as a way to let the Nez Perce and other tribes along Lewis and Clark’s route to give their version of the story.
"A lot of stuff has been written, but it’s always in someone else’s words," Thomas said. "We want to give them a vehicle to tell their own stories."

Many Wounds