Comments sent to PBS re Lewis & Clark program

The following paragraphs were sent via the feedback page at the
http://www.pbs.org website.  Turns out it wasn't the Discovery Channel, =
but
rather Detroit PBS.....(which for some reason we get on our cable TV
service here in Vancouver).

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

As a Canadian, I am bemused by your program's and the website's allusions
to the region being "part of the United States" in 1805 - since the =
Oregon
Treaty was not signed until 1846!  This is even more "amusing" from the
perspective of the native nations, whose lands they really were.....

As to your response to a question above about communication with the =
native
peoples, I was surprised to see no mention of Sacajewa's role as =
translator
despite your mention of the "French Canadians" (Metis).

But in the context of native language resources, you might want ot add a
note to the site that the Lewis and Clark Expedition's records provide =
one
of the principle documentary records of the early Chinook Jargon, which =
was
the main language of intertribal communication in the Columbia Basin
region.  Information on the Jargon can be found at
http://members.home.net/skookum/ and sites linked through that address.
Mike Cleven
ironmtn at bigfoot.com
http://members.home.net/ironmtn/

The thunderbolt steers all things.
                           - Herakleitos