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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021
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A layman’s Lewis and Clark
Washington state author explores local history in new book
By RON BALDWIN
For The Astorian
WHERE TO BUY
‘Dispatches from the Discovery Trail:
A Layman’s Lewis & Clark’
M
ichael O. Perry was asked to
write about the Lewis and Clark
Expedition during the Corp of
Discovery’s bicentennial celebration.
At the time, his writing consisted of
an occasional letter to the editor of his
local newspaper and technical reports
for his job as an environmental techni-
cian for Weyerhaeuser Co. in Longview,
Washington.
The publisher of the Columbia River
Reader, a monthly lifestyle and travel
magazine published in Longview,
recruited Perry to translate the rather
dry, often indecipherable accounts of
the expedition’s activities along the
now-named Lewis and Clark Discovery
Trail into something that would hold the
interest of the readers.
Perry, an amateur historian and cat-
aloger of local history, jumped at the
challenge.
The result became a 33-episode
series in the magazine that quickly
became the most popular series in the
magazine’s history. The series has since
been published twice in the magazine
by popular demand. The episodes are
published in a recently released book by
Perry, “Dispatches from the Discovery
Trail: A Layman’s Lewis & Clark.”
“I knew that if I was going to write
this, it was going to be written for the
common person like myself,” Perry
said. “When I fi rst looked at the books
I thought, ‘This is really dry, most of it.
How do we get this to where it’s going to
be a monthly column in a newspaper?’”
Perry has the easy-going, friendly,
yet intensely-focused demeanor of a
college professor. His telling of the sto-
By Michael O. Perry
Available at RiverSea Gallery, Godfa-
ther’s Books and Time Enough
Books
TOP: Author Michael O. Perry, pictured,
has been published in the Columbia
River Reader dozens of times. ABOVE:
The cover of ‘Dispatches from the
Discovery Trail’ by Michael O. Perry.
ries has a fl owing, conversational tone
that lifts the reader out of their chair and
plops them comfortably down in the
middle of nowhere with the Corps of
Discovery.
Perry visited nearly all of the sites
that he wrote about. He paints a striking
panorama of the sites and the 40 perma-
nent and 12 temporary members of the
expedition.
It is Perry’s theory, along with oth-
ers, that the entire Corps of Discovery
enterprise was a con-job on Congress
and the rest of the world by President
Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether
Lewis. Allegedly, Jefferson and Lewis
conceived the plan, from the start, to
dash headlong for the western “Ocian”
but they had to disguise the true intent
of the undertaking to the tight-fi sted pol-
iticians of the day, and the Spanish and
the British. Perry explains the plan in
the book’s early pages. The trip would
ultimately strengthen American claims
of sovereignty over what is now the
northwestern corner of continental U.S.,
stretching the borders from sea to sea.
Perry, his publisher and editors use a
unique format throughout the book. The
pages on the right are the text of stories
from the series exactly as it appeared in
the Columbia River Reader. The pages
on the left display Perry’s opinions,
comments and newly learned facts that
help the reader picture the explorers’
experiences.
Woodcuts by artist Debby Neely are
woven together with historical images
and documents from Perry’s personal
collection, including some vintage
postcards. The effect is a homogenous
fl ow that leads the reader through the
book without distracting from Perry’s
storytelling.
Perry’s book ultimately offers read-
ers an in-depth look at life on the
Discovery Trail with all its bumps,
scratches and downright misery, as well
as its amazing discoveries and clear vis-
tas of America’s future.
Ron Baldwin is a musician, photog-
rapher and writer living in Chinook,
Washington.