HARTFORD, Ill. (AP) – A Southern Illinois historic site is celebrating the anniversary of the start of Lewis and Clark’s legendary expedition of the West.

The Lewis and Clark State Historic Site in Hartford will welcome more than 800 fourth-graders on May 13. They’ll do many of the same things that troops did to prepare for the journey, such as starting fires with flint and steel.
On May 14 and 15 the public can watch as historic interpreters portray members of the expedition in a reconstructed Camp River Dubois.

William Clark arrived at the site that became Camp River Dubois in December 1803. That spring they made preparations for the expedition, which formally began on Monday, May 14, 1804.