Group: Name southern Indiana bridge after Lewis and Clark

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) - A historical re-enactment group is advocating for a southern Indiana bridge to be named after the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Discovery of St. Charles, a Missouri-based organization, put a life-size replica of the keelboat Meriwether Lewis and William Clark used in the Corps of Discovery expedition in the waters of the Ohio River on Thursday, the News and Tribune of Jeffersonville reported (http://bit.ly/2cGoM7B ). The group hopes to garner support for naming the east-end bridge the Lewis and Clark Bridge.

Discovery of St. Charles chair, Jan Paul Donelson said the effort is about honoring the duo's significant contributions to the area.

"It's important to the region," Donelson said. "A lot of people feel that this is where the Lewis and Clark expedition started at Clark's cabin, when they shook hands."

According to Luanne Mattson, director of communications at the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention & Tourism Bureau another benefit to renaming the bridge is more tourism for the area.

"Lewis and Clark have a connection to this area but not many people know about it," she said. "Do people know that the first men who were recruited from the Corps of Discovery were from the Kentuckiana area?"

Lewis and Clark headed downriver from Clarksville, Indiana, to St. Louis in late 1803 to begin the exploratory mission ordered by President Thomas Jefferson.

The re-enactment group will be in attendance at the Lewis and Clark Indiana Bicentennial Festival this weekend, where guests can meet the re-enactors of the Clark family, write with a quill pen and view the keelboat.

The bridge is expected to be completed in December.

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Information from: News and Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind., http://www.newsandtribune.com