Page:Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition (1905).djvu/11

 Pompey’s Pillar from the south, as seen from trains on Northern Pacific Railway, at Pompey’s Pillar Station.

The keystone of this arch of discovery and occupation was the Lewis and Clark exploration. It ranks to-day as the greatest exploration ever made by any country. It was a most dramatic and wonderful achievement, and the more it is pondered and studied the greater it becomes. That such a complete, harmonious, successful exploration and one so lacking in fatalities was possible 100 years ago, only twenty odd years after the surrender of Yorktown, is a matter for amazement, and it challenges our greatest respect and admiration for the noble corps of explorers who accomplished such magnificent results. It is fitting