Fort Lewis Memorial Park

Naches, Washington

    As can see from what is likely a replica of the original main gate at Fort Lewis, it started life as Camp Lewis.
    Because my State Farm insurance cards are either at the Montpelier, UT, post office or somewhere else in the western U.S. postal system, I didn't have the 3 items needed to drive into Ft Lewis or to the American Lake Officers' Beach Club. So I visited Ft Lewis Memorial Park, which is very near the old main gate.

 

    [Click once to enlarge; press ESC to return here.] While Ft Lewis is named after Captain Merriwether Lewis, the park also credits other in the 1804-6 Lewis & Clark Expedition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    The namesake of Ft Lewis, Merriwether Lewis, and his Newfoundland dog Seaman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    The plaque on Capt. Lewis' monument, which was dedicated in 2005, the selected year of the bicentennial celebration of the Expedition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    A recap of Capt Lewis's life as well as the fact that Camp Lewis was first located on American Lake in 1917 and then designated a permanent fort in 1927.

 

 

 

 

    Seaman was no lap-dog [unless you're the Jolly Green Giant].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    First Sergeant John Ordway, third in the Chain of Command in the Corps of Discovery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Sgt Ordway was the only Regular army sergeant in the Expeditionary Corps.

 

 

 

 

 

    Explanation of a First Sergeant's duties. Essentially they are career soldiers who are considered the "backbone of the army."

 

 

 

 

    Sgt Ordway's life ended in or near New Madrid, Missouri, the location of the greatest U.S. earthquakes in recorded history in 1811-1812. The cause of death was not the earthquake, but he must have lost all of his tillable land.

 

 

    The two most colorful shrubs in the Fort Lewis Memorial Park were rhododendrums. [I passed many growing in yards and apparently in the wild along the roads, but didn't back-track; think the best ones were in a yard in the small town of Neilton, WA.]
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Links:

• HistoryLink.Org history of Camp Lewis
• HistoryLink.Org history of Fort Lewis
• Wikipedia article on theJoint Base Lewis-McCord, WA
• HistoryLink.Org history of American Lake

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[See below for Routes & Campground Finders.]