A conversation with David Lavender

"The Way to the Western Sea: Lewis and Clark Across the Continent" was published in 1988 by Harper and Row.

Nearly a decade before the late Stephen Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West" became a bestseller and Ken Burns made his popular "Lewis and Clark" documentary for public television, Ojai author David Lavender wrote the first detailed, book-length narrative recounting the Corps of Discovery's journey across North America.

David Lavender

"The Way to the Western Sea: Lewis and Clark Across the Continent" was published in 1988 by Harper and Row. ("Undaunted Courage" came out in 1996 and the Burns film in 1997.) Thorough and exhaustively researched, Lavender's book offers both a vivid chronicle of the expedition's day-to-day adventures and a scholarly examination of the journey's place in American history. It is the sort of book one readers and history buffs had come to expect from Lavender, one of the most honored and prolific of contemporary writers on Western history.

Born in Telluride, Colo., in 1910, Lavender grew up on a cattle ranch and later moved with his family to Denver. His family's roots in the Southwest run deep: Lavender Peak, a 13,160-foot summit in the La Plata Mountains, is named after his brother; Lavender Canyon, on the edge of Canyonlands National Park, is likely named for his stepfather.

Like many Westerners, he headed east as a young man, earning a bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1931. He returned to the West after graduation and attended the Stanford University law school for a year. He came to Ojai in 1943 to teach English at Thacher School, where he worked until his retirement in 1970.

It was while teaching at Thacher, a private college preparatory school, that he wrote most of his 38 books, most of which concern Western history. They include two Pulitzer Prize-nominated volumes: "Bent's Fort," examining the role of the private fur trade in the opening of the West, and "Land of Giants," about the settling of the Pacific Northwest. He also has written many magazine articles for such publications as National Geographic, Esquire, Natural History Harper's Bazaar and the New York Times.

He has also been honored with two Guggenheim Fellowships; the Wallace Stegner Award from the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado, Boulder; two Spur awards from the Western Writers of America; awards of merit from the California Historical Society, the Historical Society of Southern California and the American Association for State and Local History; and lifetime achievement awards from the Western Writers of America and the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association. The Commonwealth Club of California conferred medals on four of his books, including "The Way to the Western Sea."

Late last year, Lavender sat down with senior reporter John Krist to talk about Lewis and Clark, and their pioneering exploration of the West. The following are excerpts from that interview.

Q. When you were working on your book, did you go out and retrace Lewis and Clark's whole route?

A. I think the only place we didn't cover by our own power was the eastern part, on the Yellowstone (River) and a little bit of that long stretch in Montana around the Great Falls area. The roads just don't exist. We flew that - a friend of ours knows that area pretty well and so he just put us in a little plane. We got sometimes a little closer to the ground than I appreciated.

Q. Of all the places you visited or flew over, what was your favorite?

A. That's a hard one. I suppose from Great Falls up until crossing the Continental Divide, that would be it. Of course, the Continental Divide itself isn't all that spectacular. Well, I take it back - the Lolo Trail, that's probably the most interesting part. That would be the high point.

Q. Have you read about the plans for the bicentennial? Every land management agency is trying to figure out how to accommodate what they anticipate to be a great crush of visitors over the next few years.

A. They're going to get them. When I wrote that book, I didn't seriously consider it (the Lewis and Clark expedition) to be one of the epic journeys. I started that, oh, 15 years ago, I suppose. By the time I had finished and it had come out to wonderful reviews, then Stephen Ambrose stepped in. Mine sold about 30,000 copies and his sold 800,000 copies. I don't think it was all that much better, but he had a sharper eye and managed to get more print.

Q. What is it about this episode, this experience, that grabs people 200 years later?

A. They were the ones that really stitched the coasts together. At the dawn of the 19th century, the country was awakening to its enormous scope and variety. That certainly has something to do with it. It resonates in this over-stimulated century of ours, too, how vast and varied this country is. And of course, there's the mystique of Sacajawea. How can you beat that?

Q. The first word in your book is "Luck." Were they just phenomenally lucky people, or were they brilliant at what they did, to make it across the landscape relatively uninjured?

A. Any pioneer knows he's got to be lucky. You've got to be able to work on your luck, but meeting the Shoshone, surviving the unfortunate encounter with the Blackfeet - you can't classify that as much more than luck. They were pretty lucky to get through the Sioux Indians, too.

Q. Does it annoy you a little bit that your book sold 30,000 copies and Ambrose's sold 800,000?

A. Ambrose, unfortunately, among historians does not have a very good reputation, but I do not feel it necessary for me to join the roster. I should just pout.