Lewis and Clark Heirs Make Amends for Stolen Canoe

Explorers stole one from Chinooks in 1806s; tribe is getting one back
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 23, 2011 3:42 PM CDT
Lewis and Clark Heirs Make Amends for Stolen Canoe
Ray Gardner of the Chinook Indian Nation stands next to the 36-foot canoe Friday in Long Beach, Wash.   (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Descendants of Lewis and Clark are returning a canoe to the Chinook Indians in Washington state, more than two centuries after the exploring duo stole one from the tribe, reports the AP. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took the canoe from the Indians who had shelthered them through the winter when they set off for home in 1806. Descendants and donors got together and will formally present a 36-foot replica to the Chinooks tomorrow.

"We talked about what happened 205 years ago, and we believed that things could be restored if something like this were done," said Carlota Clark Holton, a seventh-generation descendant of Clark. "I think everyone acknowledges that it was wrong, and we wanted to right a wrong," she said. "The family was very much behind it." (More William Clark stories.)

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