Cottonwood Trees at Travelers' Rest

A stand of cottonwood trees near the campsite the captains dubbed "Travelers' Rest."

The stream the Lewis and Clark Expedition visited in 1805 and 1806, and called "Travelers' Rest Creek"--known as Lolo Creek since the mid-19th century¹--flows eastward, from left to right, only a few yards beyond the line of cottonwoods in the background. The trees in the foreground have sprung up along some meanders of the creek that may have been flowing when the Expedition paused here in the fall of 1805 and spring of 1806.

Most of the trees in this stand range from 75 to 100 feet in height, and are from 20 to 60 years old, with a few between 60 and 100 years. They are distant offspring of the cottonwoods that shaded the creek when the Corps of Discovery camped on the benchland behind the photographer.

This photo was taken on May 13, 2000. The group of apparently dead trees to the right sprang to leaf just one week later, illustrating that, as botanist Mark Behan puts it, "Nature backs its bets." They have been programmed to awaken--"break dormancy"--a little after the rest of the stand, in case a late hard frost nipped the others in the bud and prevented them from propagating.

The rancher who occupied much of the land in this vicinity for35 years before it became a state park fed his cattle on the grass, and kept the area cleared of brush and dead trees. Since this area had been a major crossroads on the Indians' intra-montane transportation route for countless generations, subjecting it to heavy grazing by their huge herds of horses since the mid-18th century, and using its wood for campfires, it is conceivable that it looked pretty much like this to Lewis and Clark and their party.

--Joseph Mussulman