Roadwork keeping tourists from Lemhi Pass
SALMON, Idaho – They did it on foot about 200 years ago, but Meriwether Lewis and William Clark may have found crossing the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass easier than tourists have this summer.
Idaho tourism boosters say a Montana construction project on the road leading to the 7,373-foot pass could restrict the flow of visitors during the height of bicentennial celebrations marking the Corps of Discovery’s journey through the region.
“This is well-planned to keep tourists from coming to Salmon,” said Martin Capps, whose company coordinates eastern Idaho visits by national Lewis and Clark bus tours.
On Aug. 12, 1805, the Lewis and Clark expedition entered the Beaverhead Mountains on the border of present-day Idaho and Montana and first glimpsed the headwaters of the Columbia River.
Lemhi Pass marked what was then the western boundary of the United States, and the vista of mountains stretching to the west dashed any hopes of finding the fabled Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean.
The pass is the signature feature of Idaho’s Lemhi County and anticipation for an influx of visitors marking the bicentennial has been building in Salmon, the county seat.
But Capps said some bus drivers encountering the construction on Highway 324 have simply turned around and returned to Montana.
The road is open, but it’s rugged and travelers must be led through some rough stretches by pilot cars.
Helen Carpenter told the Twin Falls Times-News she had planned a day trip on July 18 that would have taken her through Montana and over the pass but gave up after getting two flat tires in the construction zone.
Montana Department of Transportation officials say the rebuilding plan has been in the works for years and Idaho officials were aware Montana would make the improvements this summer.
“It’s just the way things shook out; it’s surely not intended to interfere with anyone’s party,” said Dale Hancock, the Montana road project manager. “We have the same tourist thing going on here with Lewis and Clark.”
“Anyway, they traveled many more miles in Montana and were only in Idaho a short time,” he said.
The project began in March and is expected to be completed by September. Hancock said it was scheduled to be done last year but must be finished this year to retain federal highway funds.
Ann Marie Ojala of the Sacajawea Interpretive Cultural and Education Center in Salmon said leaders there asked Montana officials to delay construction. “We told them we were concerned and that we didn’t think it was a grand idea to do it during the bicentennial year,” she said. “I have no idea why they decided to do it now.”