Senate Passes Young’s Bill to Extend Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) today applauded the Senate’s passage of his Eastern Legacy Extension Act, which cleared the Senate as part of the Natural Resources Management Act, a bipartisan package of land bills. Senator Young’s legislation would extend the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail from St. Louis, Missouri to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including all of Indiana’s southern border along the Ohio River. The proposed extension travels through seven states: Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

“The Eastern Legacy Extension Act honors the important legacy of the Lewis and Clark trail in Indiana,” said Senator Young.“The extension of the trail will help educate Americans on the historic Lewis and Clark partnership, and will boost tourism in the areas of Indiana that the trail crosses through.”

On October 15, 1803, Meriwether Lewis joined William Clark in Clarksville, Indiana near the Falls of the Ohio. They were Captains of the Corps of Discovery, a specially established unit of the United States Army whose mission was to explore the West. Eleven days later the Corps departed Indiana via the Ohio River for St. Louis. 

In February 2018, the National Park Service (NPS) released a Lewis & Clark Extension study that noted the historical and cultural importance of the Ohio River to their journey, and the importance of Indiana, where Lewis and Clark’s expedition “began in earnest.” The Eastern Legacy Extension Act reflects the NPS study and honors the importance of states like Indiana to this famous partnership.

The Natural Resources Management Actnow heads to the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration.