Lewis and Clark Trail Maps: A Cartographic Reconstruction by Martin Plamondon II

Abstract

Harvey Scott, the influentialeditorof theOrego nian forforty-five years, andMatthew P.Deady, judge of the Ninth District Court forthirty-four years,worked to thwarttheacts ofviolence and discriminatory laws thatwere often aimed at Chinese in other urban areas such as Tacoma, Denver, and San Francisco. Another major strength of the study is the author's detailed description and analysis of how Chinese community leaders used the courts and sympathetic lawyers and judges to protect their civil and commercial rightsdur ing theChinese exclusion period (1882-1943). Chinese residents in America during thisperiod certainly faced daunting challenges, especially from the federal Bureau of Immigration, but it isno longer possible, thanks to the evidence put forward by this volume and other recent studies, toview theseChinese residents simply as passive victimswho had no control over their own destiny. I have a couple ofminor quibbles with the book. On numerous occasions the author refers to the Chinese minister in Washington, D.C., as the "Chinese foreign [sic]minister" (see, for example, pp. 71,74, 82, 89-94,180-83, 256). Had a specialist in diplomatic history reviewed the manuscript, thisproblemwould have easilybeen caught. In a few cases, there is confusion about proper family names. For instance,Wu Ting Fang is referred to asMinister Fang, when, in fact,his family was Wu (pp. 181-83). Such items, it must be stated,do not detract fromtheoverall quality of this major newwork. Indeed, a brief review such as this cannot do justice to the richness and complexity of the narrative. There are detailed discussions of specific legal cases, the varied roles of Chinese community leaders, Chinese urban architecture, and theChinese vegetable gardens than ranalong Tanner Creek? to name but a few of the in triguing sub-topics covered in thisfinevolume. Thanks to thediligence and skillofMarie Rose Wong, theChinatowns of Portland may finally receive the serious attention of historians that theyhave long deserved. Lewis and Clark TrailMaps: A Cartographic Reconstruction Volumes I, II, and III ByMartin Plamondon II Washington State University Press, Pullman, 2000,2001,2004. Maps, illustrations (volume III only), index. 208 pages, 240 pages, 256 pages. $75.00 cloth. $75.00 spiral-bound. $55.00 paper. Reviewed by Stephanie Ambrose Tubbs Helena, Montana The Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote that one cannot step twice into the same river.Mapmaker Martin Plamondon would surely agree. His three-volume work paints riversas living, wandering, unpredictable forcesofnature thatchanged theircourse even in the span of one or two seasons and certainly in the200 years since thenecessarilyhurried survey made by William Clark. As an experienced car tographer himself, Plamondon takes themaps made byWilliam Clark and shows where and why the riversand landscapes have changed. The maps arevaluable works asmuch fortheirdetail as forthe sentimentbehind them."I had to map it"Plamondon said inan interview."It's theonly way topreserve it"(KenOlsen, "All thatRemains; A Cartographer's Quest to Recreate theTrail," Washington State Magazine, Summer 2004). 674 OHQ vol. 106, no. 4 The unique talent of a mapmaker is to make familiar the unfamiliar,whether we are poring over theirwork in the comfort of our living rooms or squinting at their lines out in thewindy field.These volumes accomplish that taskon several levels. In termsof sheerdevotion to his project,Martin Plamondon deserves re spect. He spent twenty-seven years working on the 530hand-drawn maps thathe compiled by consulting nearly every form of geologic and topographic data on thearea covered by the trail and thencomparing themwith Clark's originals. Expertsmay dispute some ofhis cartographical findings and techniques, especiallywith regard to campsite locations; but, most significantly, Plamondon's maps show theoriginal riverchan nels that existed in the 1800s.He accompanies themaps with some of themost illuminating quotes from the journals and offershis own insightfulobservations throughout. To be sure, thesemaps offer more than his location of campsites. Plamondon shows us where Clark erred (hewrites that theCaptain was offby some 1,116 miles) andwhy (according to Plamondon, he relied heavily on inaccurate methods and instruments). He indicates that Lewis was "nearly useless" as a mapmaker (vol. 2, p. 94). He touches on familiarthemes andwisely avoids others. On the spelling of the name of Sacagawea hewrites: "Having thesharplylimited space of amere 500maps thecartographer shall not venture upon that shakyground" (vol...