Platte County’s history comes with some difficult realities if you value fairness and equality. How do we embrace changes for the better while remembering that they came from a bitter past?
Several County leaders are planning observances for the County’s 175th anniversary in 2014. That’s a good thing. I wish them luck in generating enthusiasm for history. But it’s not always a pleasant story.
William Clark and Meriwether Lewis were shooting at every deer, bear and beaver they encountered when their expedition’s crews paddled up the Missouri River in 1804. They were late to the indiscriminate harvest. French fur trappers had long shot or trapped whatever critter had a sellable pelt. They encouraged Native Americans to do the same in return for trade goods. The County’s Native American history is a bit murky, in part because tribes were on the move across the plains once horses altered power after 1492.
Platte County’s history comes with some difficult realities if you value fairness and equality. How do we embrace changes for the better while remembering that they came from a bitter past?
Several County leaders are planning observances for the County’s 175th anniversary in 2014. That’s a good thing. I wish them luck in generating enthusiasm for history. But it’s not always a pleasant story.
William Clark and Meriwether Lewis were shooting at every deer, bear and beaver they encountered when their expedition’s crews paddled up the Missouri River in 1804. They were late to the indiscriminate harvest. French fur trappers had long shot or trapped whatever critter had a sellable pelt. They encouraged Native Americans to do the same in return for trade goods. The County’s Native American history is a bit murky, in part because tribes were on the move across the plains once horses altered power after 1492.