On this day in 1988, Stacy Allison of Portland, Oregon, became
the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest,
which at 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest point on earth.
Allison, a member of the Northwest American Everest Expedition, climbed the Himalayan peak using the southeast ridge route.
At least 168 climbers and support staff died in attempts to reach
the top of Everest in the 20th century.
On July 3, 1890, Idaho entered the Union as the 43rd state.
The name of the new state was first used during the 1850s
to designate a region in what is now Colorado that was later
known as Idaho Springs.
The word Idaho is derived from the Shoshone Ee-Da-How,
referring possibly to the ubiquitous purple flowers of the
area, but also translated as “gem of the mountains” or
“behold the sun coming down the mountain.”
Idaho was originally part of the vast northwest Oregon, or
Columbia River, country claimed by Spain, Russia, Great
Britain, and the United States.
In 1818 a treaty provided for joint rule of the area by the
United States and Great Britain. At first limited to ten years,
joint rule was later extended.
In 1846 the United States gained sole possession of the
Oregon country below the 49th parallel.
The American claim to this northwestern area stemmed
primarily from the explorations by Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark (below) in 1805.
May 14, 1804: One year after the United States doubled its territory
with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition left St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.
On November 8, 1805, the expedition arrived at the Pacific Ocean, pausing there for the winter, the explorers began the long journey
back to St. Louis.
Conferring with Clatsop Indians at the fort.
After passing a wet and tedious winter near the Pacific Coast,
Lewis and Clark left behind Fort Clatsop and headed east for
home.
The Corps of Discovery arrived at the Pacific the previous
November, having made a difficult crossing over the rugged
Rocky Mountains.
Their winter stay on the south side of the Columbia River—
dubbed Fort Clatsop in honor of the local Native American
tribe—had been plagued by rainy weather and a scarcity of
fresh meat. No one in the Corps of Discovery regretted
leaving Fort Clatsop behind.
In the days before their departure, Captains Lewis and Clark
prepared for the final stage of their journey. Lewis recognized
the possibility that some disaster might still prevent them from
making it back east and he prudently left a list of the names of
all the expedition’s men with Chief Coboway of the Clatsops.
Lewis asked the chief to give the list to the crew of the next
trading vessel that arrived so the world would learn that the
expedition did reach the Pacific.
The months to come would witness some of the most
dangerous moments of the journey, including Lewis’
violent confrontation with members of the Blackfeet tribe
near the Marias River of Montana in July.
Nonetheless, seven months later to the day, on September
23, 1806, the Corps of Discovery arrived at the docks of St.
Louis, where their long journey had begun nearly two and a
half years before.
American explorer Richard Byrd and three companions made the
first flight over the South Pole, flying from their base on the Ross
Ice Shelf to the pole and back in 18 hours and 41 minutes.
Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr.
(October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957)
