On This Day In History - Lewis & Clark Return To St. Louis As Heroes With Their Incredible Newfoundland Dog, Seaman

(yahoonews.com - Kerry Byrne)

U.S. Army Captain Meriwether Lewis, 2nd Lt. William Clark and their Corps of Discovery returned to St. Louis to a hero's welcome after their epic journey to the Pacific Ocean on this day in history, Sept. 23, 1806. "We were met by all the village and received a hearty welcome from its inhabitants," wrote Clark as their expedition returned to the Gateway to the West. "We Suffered the party to fire off their pieces as a salute to the town." Their epic continental sojourn, easily covered by air travel today in mere hours, lasted 28 months and covered 8,000 miles of an undulating route largely following the Missouri and Columbia rivers.

"What happened to the Corps is a great story, brimming with energy and full of forward motion," enthused historian James P. Ronda in a 2003 retrospective in Smithsonian Magazine. "In extraordinary settings, a remarkable cast of characters encountered adversity of epic proportions and struggled through one adventure after another."

The expedition included about three dozen members. Among the multicultural band of explorers: Clark's slave, York, whose skin color shocked natives who had never seen a black person before; celebrated Shoshone native Sacagawea; and her French Canadian-Native American son Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, born on the journey in present-day North Dakota in 1805. Clark cared for the boy after Sacagawea died in 1812. Seaman, Clark's Newfoundland dog, also made the journey.

The expedition took the Corps through what was then the forbidden North American wilderness, unexplored by Europeans, largely unmapped for posterity by humans and inhabited by flora, fauna and native tribes unknown to the outside world. Among the curiosities they encountered and recorded to the amazement of European Americans were 178 plants, 122 animals — including grizzly bears — and the indigenous Clatsop people in what's now Oregon, one of many "Flathead" tribes of the Pacific Northwest.

"The most remarkable trait in their physiognomy," wrote Lewis, "is the peculiar flatness and width of forehead, which they artificially obtain by compressing the head between two boards while in a state of infancy and from which it never afterward perfectly recovers … From the top of the head to the extremity of the nose is one straight line." The Corps was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson while he was working to acquire the sprawling Louisiana Territory from France in 1803. "Even before negotiations with France were finished, Jefferson asked Congress to finance an expedition to survey the lands of the so-called Louisiana Purchase and appointed Lewis as expedition commander," according to History.com.

The Corps of Discovery departed on May 14, 1804, reached the Pacific on Nov. 7, 1805, wintered on the Columbia River near present-day Astoria, Oregon, and began the return journey to St. Louis on March 23, 1806. Both Lewis and Clark kept detailed accounts of the journey. They left for posterity a rich repository of insight into the natural landscape, the continent's native inhabitants and their own daily battles for survival. Remarkably, all but one member of the expedition, Sgt. Charles Floyd, lived to complete the journey. He died on Aug. 20, 1804, perhaps of a ruptured appendix, upon what's now known as Floyd's Bluff on the Missouri River in Sioux City, Iowa. "Lewis and Clark's journals record for us not only a story of astonishing personal courage but also a powerful parable of trust within the human community," writes editor Landon Y. Jones in his 2000 account of their diaries, "The Essential Lewis and Clark." "On one level, Lewis is the more sophisticated storyteller," he wrote. "Clark on the other hand is blunter, earthier and more to the point." Among hundreds of other human insights in their records, the Corps of Discovery celebrated the young nation's independence on July 4, 1805, with their remaining stock of spirits, music and dancing in what's now Great Falls, Montana. "The fiddle was played and they danced very merrily," wrote Lewis of his team. "They continued their mirth with songs and festive jokes and were extremely merry until late at night." "That evening the first Americans ever to enter Montana, the first to ever see the Yellowstone, the Milk, the Marias and the Great Falls, the first Americans ever to kill a grizzly, celebrated their nation's 29th birthday," wrote Stephen Ambrose in his 1996 history, "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West."

"It is with pleasure that I announce to you the safe arrival of myself and party," Lewis wrote to President Jefferson on the day of their return to St. Louis. "In obedience to your orders we have penetrated the continent of North America to the Pacific Ocean, and sufficiently explored the interior of the country to affirm with confidence that we have discovered the most practicable rout which [does] exist across the continent by means of the navigable branches of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers."

When Queen Elizabeth II Met The Newfies In Newfoundland

(Queen Elizabeth II is shown some Newfoundland dogs with Premier of Newfoundland Brian Tobin in Bonavista, Nfld., on June 24, 1997. Photo By Carlo Allegri /AFP PHOTO) (Christina Blizzard - Toronotosun.com) "Queen Elizabeth II had a long love affair with Canada. And we loved her back. She visited this country 22 times — more than any other in the world. Her first visit was as a princess in 1951, shortly before the death of her father, George VI. I was lucky enough to cover the last few tours she made to this country. One of them was to greet the ship, The Matthew, a replica of John Cabot’s ship. Five hundred years after Cabot discovered Newfoundland, the Queen was on hand in Bonavista, in 1997 to greet a replica of that ship as it sailed in from England. It was minus four degrees, that June day when The Matthew arrived. There was fog offshore and a cold, East Coast drizzle that occasionally turned to flurries. The wind cut through like a knife to the bone. All the same, huge crowds turned out in the tiny fishing village, clogging roads and causing good-natured mayhem as they greeted the royal couple. Swaddled in blankets and a sporting a weatherproof coat, the Queen sat through an hour-long ceremony of sea shanties and speeches with absolute stoicism. Back in St. John’s the next day, she shed the dowdy rain gear to dazzle at a gala with Prime Minister Jean Chretien, before heading off to Labrador. It was a whirlwind schedule, with countless changes in weather and clothing. Yet she and her husband, Prince Philip, spent hours shaking hands and greeting people. n 2010, she toured Nova Scotia, where she spent an afternoon inspecting warships from around the world in Halifax harbour in an international ceremony. There were frigates and destroyers from many countries and their crews met the Queen with loud cheers and exuberant hat-twirling salutes. I was on one of the boats following the royal couple as mariners from around the world saluted them. It was there I met the Queen’s formidable dresser, Angela Kelly, whose formal title is special adviser to Her Majesty (Queen’s Wardrobe). Kelly is a no-nonsense type who makes no secret of her humble beginnings in a modest family in Liverpool. She and the Queen became fast friends over the years, with the Queen reportedly admiring Kelly’s forthright nature. Kelly is credited with changing her boss’s style, putting her in bolder colours and more stylish outfits. After Halifax, the royal couple flew off to Ottawa for Canada Day celebrations then on to Toronto and Waterloo to tour the headquarters of Research in Motion, makers of the then-state-of-the-art BlackBerry. She also toured Toronto’s Pinewood Studios. At the RIM offices, she was presented with a new BlackBerry and I recall some young reporters on the media bus on the way home questioning whether the elderly Queen would know how to use it. In fact, she was an early adopter of the new technology. It wasn’t her first BlackBerry. Back in the heyday of the brand, Buckingham Palace liked the security features on the revolutionary Canadian-made phone. She’d had several before being handed the new one. And she was perfectly at home around technology. She trained as a mechanic during the war with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), so was not exactly a shrinking violet when it came to rolling up her sleeves to get things to work. She drove herself in her Range Rover until her final days. She also spoke good French — as did her father, George VI. His speech impediment was the subject of the 2010 movie The King’s Speech. Oddly, while he had stuttered in English, he spoke French perfectly. It was that proficiency that made him popular in Quebec. Quebecers said he was more their king than the Anglos’ because of his perfect French. Share this article in your social network"

The Dog From Newfoundland - Saving Lives In Many Ways

(coventrytelegraph.net) "A woman said she owes her life to a rescue dog who spotted her breast cancer after 'sniffing and nuzzling' her right armpit. Lucy Giles, 45, thought her beloved Broady was initially just craving some attention but, soon after discovering a lump in her armpit, she was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer. The animal-lover had welcomed the 11-stone Newfoundland giant into her life in July 2021 after her partner Ashley, 62, had spent six months in hospital on a life-support machine after contracting Covid. When Ashley returned home, he was dependent on Lucy, who works as a carer, and she became his full-time support.

As part of his recovery, the pair decided to add to the family of pets who they dote on, including two dogs Leo and Murphy, 18 rabbits, two cats and a tortoise. They then adopted Broady the gentle giant, who was from a family who could no longer look after him. The Newfoundland breed is well-known for water rescue and lifesaving because of their swimming abilities and intelligence and Lucy, of Didcot, Oxon, said: 'It was in the September that he started to sniff and nuzzle at my right armpit. It was mostly when I was sat down, so either watching TV or sitting down for a rest and always in the same spot on my right side.' 'At first, I thought it was him wanting a bit of fuss and attention but I decided that I should perhaps take notice as it was just my right side he would do this. I was washing myself in the shower one morning and decided to have a feel under my breasts and examine myself and that’s when I felt a lump right there in my armpit.'

Lucy was then informed to wait a month by her GP surgery as her doctor thought it could be hormone related - but the lump remained a few weeks later, and she was referred to Churchill Hospital for tests. She explained: 'The hospital called me one afternoon and asked me to come in and I had no idea what the news would be as they wouldn’t tell me over the phone.' 'The consultant said straight away that I had HER2-positive breast cancer and there was also residual cancer cells in my lymph nodes. The news hit me hard as it was the same day my nan had died from bowel cancer the year previously and I was with her when she died.' In October last year, Miss Giles underwent six rounds of chemotherapy followed by a lumpectomy with radiotherapy afterwards. She is still going through chemotherapy as well as continuing to work full time. Lucy added: 'I have had dark days and OK days. The chemo does make me feel poorly with mouth ulcers and some nose bleeds but I have a brilliant support network of family and friends who take me to appointments and help in just being there for me, along with Brody, of course, who perhaps came into our lives for a reason.' Lucy is hoping to encourage others to join her in Oxford on Saturday, September 3 for this year’s Cancer Research UK Shine Night Walk - a 10km stroll to raise money for life-saving research. Alison Birkett, from Cancer Research UK, said: 'One in two of us will get cancer in our lifetime, but all of us can help beat it. 'As we mark our anniversary, we want to thank Lucy, Ashley and, of course, Broady and people across Oxfordshire for their incredible commitment to events like Shine Night Walk that make our life-saving work possible.'"