A Passage Through Time

The limestone this panel describes holds caverns named for an expedition that never saw them. Hunters found the entrance in 1892, and by 1901 Dan Morrison, who worked a nearby limestone quarry, was guiding visitors down wooden stairs. The Northern Pacific Railway claimed the land, won its case against Morrison in 1908 and gave the ground to the government, and that May Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed a national monument and named it for Lewis and Clark. The caves were locked; Morrison broke in and kept leading tours. In 1937 the monument passed to Montana and became its first state park.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park — 1.1 mi
  A limestone cave the Civilian Conservation Corps spent six years making walkable, by the steps, lights and tunnel visitors still use.
• Missouri Headwaters State Park — 19 mi
  Where the expedition named three rivers, and where the trappers who came back after it learned whose country it was.
• Madison Buffalo Jump State Park — 19 mi
  A limestone cliff where people drove bison over the edge for two thousand years, until horses made it unnecessary.

More markers nearby

• LaHood Park — 3.7 mi
• Lewis and Clark Expedition — 3.7 mi
• A New World: Tertiary Mammals — 15 mi
• Thunder Horses — 16 mi