"Lewis 'N Clark Fort Claptrap" Topic

What a wonderful design! They (the gubmint? rebuilt the fort, BTW. Would love to visit it)

A fort and home for a small unit of troops (they had about 35 in their party, I recall).

GREAT idea for gaming. Easy to scratchbuild, it takes up small space, and is perfect for any frontier/American gaming, and with some imagination, is a great design in stone/mud/adobe for ANY gaming in Africa, NW Frontyier, etc.

Easy, and a 20 man unit can try their luck against hordes of bad guys in a TSATF game.

FIW, AWI, TWI, Plains Wars, 1812, Darkest Africa, South America, ANYWHERE your unit needs a fort. THIS is a weener!

i want a Rorke's Drift for my home I'm gonna build. But barring a windfall of cheap Chinese concrete (Concrete mealie bag perimimeter is like 20,000 yards of concrete, or over 200,K in money. ) This fort would be a 2nd choice! How cool would it be to live in?

What a wonderful design! They (the gubmint? rebuilt the fort, BTW. Would love to visit it)

A fort and home for a small unit of troops (they had about 35 in their party, I recall).

GREAT idea for gaming. Easy to scratchbuild, it takes up small space, and is perfect for any frontier/American gaming, and with some imagination, is a great design in stone/mud/adobe for ANY gaming in Africa, NW Frontyier, etc.

Easy, and a 20 man unit can try their luck against hordes of bad guys in a TSATF game.

FIW, AWI, TWI, Plains Wars, 1812, Darkest Africa, South America, ANYWHERE your unit needs a fort. THIS is a weener!

i want a Rorke's Drift for my home I'm gonna build. But barring a windfall of cheap Chinese concrete (Concrete mealie bag perimimeter is like 20,000 yards of concrete, or over 200,K in money. ) This fort would be a 2nd choice! How cool would it be to live in?

Yes, ingeneous design born of necessity. You could get a log home builder to recreate this with modern conveniences.

You should make a cabin design of it, 1/3 scale maybe? Main living house, granny house, wargaming/library space….etc….

LOL! Thinking 15mm scale first. :)

As for 1/1 scale, you can't get insurance for a log home in Florida.

And we have termites :O

But, you Can build a CBS structure, and add wood exterior (thus half round "logs" on the outside?)

Just read the Ambrose Lewis and Clark book. A great read.

I am taking my muzzleloader on my camping trip to Turkey Lake in two weeks. I feel the need to shoot buffalo and make jerky.

I got to get the Lewis journal. Heard its fantastic.

LOL! Jefferson's instructions: "Tell the Indians they have a new Father, give them a flag and a medal, and secure their allegiance" and the best part, cow the Sioux and Blackfeet.

remember, tan the hide by chewing to make your maps etc……

Doesn't have to be completely wood…..simulated logs buddy…..

A. As a northwestern who takes his regional history seriously, the fort is named Clatsop, not Claptrap. Named for the local Indian tribe. Just a little more respectful tone would be appreciated.
B. It's pretty small. It is indeed a National Monument. Was built in the 60's. It burned down in fairly serious fire in 2006 a week after I took my students there. It has been rebuilt. Definitely worth a visit.
C. All of the Gary Moulton edited versions of the Lewis and Clark journals are online at the University of Nebraska. They are indexed by date and subject and much easier to use than my print editions. So you don't have to run out and buy a copy.
link

D. If you have a nagging interest in the Lewis and Clark expedition, Ambrose's book is a great place to start.

Thanks K.Smyth. It was not disrespect, it was spell checking and posting via a phone more than any attempt at mockery.

Ambrose' book was indeed a great read.

So basically, the Indians of the Louisiana territory were not agrarian at all? That certainly helps explain the dilemma of Indian policy with US expansion. Also seems that any attempts at said lifestyle were doomed by the need for consistent trade and disease.

Lots of interesting experiences with L and C. I've gamed the hypothetical, but historically-based, encounter between the Corps of Discovery and a Spanish expedition sent to arrest them. Potential catastrophic encounter between the Corps and the Sioux. Within a couple of years after the expedition, there was a nasty skirmish between an army flatboat and the Arikara. Yes, L and C made some friends, but they made some enemies too.

OK, THIS beats all! Saw a copy of the fort, EXACT, except it was 2 mobile homes end to end on each side, and corregated aluminum sheets for the walls, WITH a gate!

There was a big rebel flag flying, and a plethora of old junk cars, washing machines, oil drums, engine blocks, and stuff around the perimeter.

Right smack in the middle of a trailer park for "undocumented residents". LOL! They have a siege mentality?

I'll get picks tonight.

Didn't enter compound. I'll have to ask some of the illegals I know who live around it, what is up. Straight out of survivalist, John Birch Society lore, it looks like. I wonder if they used Lewis and Clarke's fort as inspiration?