Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Fort Clatsop is pleased to
announce the next installment of its In Their Footsteps free speakers
series. This program is Lewis and Clark and the International Competition
for Oregon by Mark Eifler on Sunday, November 16, at 1:00 p.m. in the Netul
River Room of the Fort Clatsop visitor center.
The Pacific Northwest coast was a hotbed of international competition
between 1775 and 1815, when four nations – Spain, Russia, Great Britain,
and the United States – sought control of the region. By the time of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition, it was apparent that the key to regional
dominance was the mouth of the Columbia River. Most students of American
history are familiar with the scientific goals President Jefferson
established for the Corps of Discovery, but Jefferson also had his eye on
political and economic power as he sought to map the vast territory
recently purchased from France.
Although the American explorers did not make direct contact with
representatives of the other foreign nations, Eifler’s program explores the
remarkable geopolitical ramifications of the Corps of Discovery’s journey:
the end of Spain’s already weak hold on the Pacific Northwest, a frenzy of
Russian activity to seize the coast, and a further opening of the door for
British fur traders.
Mark Eifler is the Chair of the History Department at the University of
Portland. His research and teaching focuses on the American West and the
Pacific Rim. Rather than seeing the Pacific Coast as a place where trails
from the East ended, he sees it as a meeting and gathering place of many
groups – Native, European, American, and Asian – whose paths wound through
many different experiences. He is currently working on a book about the
geopolitics of the early Pacific Northwest.
This third Sunday forum is sponsored by the Lewis and Clark National Park
Association and the park. These programs are held in the Netul River Room
of Fort Clatsop’s visitor center and are free of charge.
For more information, call the park at (503) 861-2471.
