Hawken Classic Boat House Debut

We will be hosting the Hawken Classic event this year and I am excited that I was able to nail down this event as we were on a short list of 5 to 6 other locations. The Hawken Rifles were built here in St. Louis and the main rifle for heading out West during the Mountain man period. Jacob Hawken is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery not 200 yards away from Captain Clark’s grave.

We need to start setting up on Wednesday and Thursday May 15 & 16. We will be adding backdrop color to the event and I am NOT trying to upstage them at all. We will be dressed down for this event. Leave your Class “A” uniforms at home. Yes, your blue coats, Lewis coats and class “A” hats, leave them at HOME! The only member I see in a blue coat would be the visiting Amos Stoddard, the military governor of the Louisiana Territory.

I plan for us to be wearing our buckskins like the return trip back in 2006. We can still be wearing the blue fatigue hat or any other period hat when outside. If you do not have buckskins that we used in 2006, then a hunting shirt and hunting frocks will be fine. Call me if you have any questions.

We will be setting up tents to CAMP and hopefully sleep in like we did from 2003-2006. I am NOT setting the tents up as a display tent’s during the day for us to sit at tables all day!!! So as long as we can cover one of the boats outside on the driveway (probably the Red Boat), we should be free to walk around and talk about Lewis and Clark on the river as we viewed it. Plus, this will free our members up to visit other camps and go to the many Seminars that are scheduled over the 3 days.

I already talked to and have (3) DESC members setting up a Lewis & Clark Period weapons display in our new meeting room in the Museum. Note that all the REAL Hawken rifle collection’s will be on display in our main classroom in the Museum.

I do have the first Mountain man, Davy Cain (aka John Colter) setting up his small camp with his furs and traps. On August 13, 1806 Colter was honorably discharged from the detachment and headed back up the Missouri River with his 2 new partners. This part of the story needs to be told to our visitors.   I also talked to two DESC members to make sure I have George Drouillard covered for this event. As Drouillard was hired by Manuel Lisa and headed back up the river with John Potts and Peter Weiser.

So, I have a start on some of the key players here but camp needs to be set. The flag still needs to be raised and lowered at our camp daily and sitting around doing camp chores and maybe period cooking.

There will be other period campers, Trader’s setup and food vendors during this event. The Hawken Shop has moved years ago to Oak Harbor, Washington State and they will be onsite with a Marquee setup selling their items as well. So, if you want a Hawken rifle or a rifle kit, bring your wallet.

Also note that I needed one of the boats pulled outside to open an area for a place to hold the seminars during the event. That is the reason we will need to man a few members off and, on all weekend, to discuss the more than 25 boats that moved L & C up and down the rivers. I am not sure I covered everything but I am sure there will be lots of questions so, direct them to me. You can also see a lot of the details for this event on Facebook as I have been sharing the posts as they come out and they are also linked to our Museum Facebook page.

Please start scheduling with Larry Boschen for the event. I will need to know your

availability for the setup days and the days of the event. May 15- May 19, 2024