Lewis & Clark Center Gets Rare Journal

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A man from Elmira, N.Y., has donated a rare first-edition journal to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center at Washburn, N.D.

The journal was written by Patrick Gass, a sergeant on the famous expedition to the Pacific Northwest. Art Thompson's copy came from a trunk in his mother's attic more than 30 years ago.

The 67-year-old Thompson and his wife followed the route of the Lewis and Clark Trail from St. Louis to the Pacific and chose the interpretive center as the home for the book.

Center Director David Borlaug tells The Bismarck Tribune the 1807 edition will be the oldest and most valuable book in the center's collection. First editions of the journal have sold for upward of $20,000.

The center's new library is being dedicated Sept. 21-22.