Lewis and Clark statue to hail returning heroes

? Lewis and Clark ended their historic journey in 1806 at the St. Louis riverfront. So why, wondered Lucie Huger, is there nothing to mark that particular moment? The author and historian from Kirkwood has been at the forefront of an effort to commemorate the event with a statue.

“This is where they ended up, and we should have a big to-do — ‘Hooray, we made it!”‘ Huger said. “I really want to see this happen.”

It appears she will. A site has been approved, and a design has been drafted by a noted area sculptor. All it needs is some funding.

Huger and backers of the project expect to see a bronze statue depicting Meriwether Lewis and William Clark by September next year — the bicentennial of the explorer’s return to St. Louis. The statue will sit alongside the Mississippi River at the foot of Washington Avenue within a few hundred yards of where historians believe Lewis and Clark landed. The statue will complement a planned riverfront revival, said Rollin Stanley, the city’s director of planning and urban design.

Wright City artist Harry Weber already has begun preliminary steps required to craft the piece. His works, which dot the city and state, include a number of bronze portraits of Cardinals outside Busch Stadium.

His riverfront sculpture will have Lewis kneeling next to his dog, Seaman, on the front of the explorers’ boat as it approaches shore. Clark will stand to the left, waving his hat in triumph. The figures will be larger than life — about 10 feet tall for Lewis and Clark.

Huger, Weber and others involved in the project say they now have to raise about $700,000. The total would include an endowment for maintenance and repair of the statue, which will be portable in case of flooding.

Bill Durham, a marketing consultant, is leading the fund-raising effort. Already, a private foundation has kicked in $75,000, he said.

This bronze model by artist Harry Weber shows a planned statue to honor Lewis and Clark in St. Louis. The explorers ended their historic journey in 1806 at the St. Louis riverfront.

Raising the rest of the money won’t be easy, “but for what it represents, it’s a drop in the bucket,” he said. “St. Louis should own Lewis and Clark. We should be the No. 1 Lewis and Clark venue in the world. They planned it from here. They took off from here. They came back here.”

He said he also sees the statue as a sort of symbol of the rebirth of St. Louis.

“And it’s going to be beautiful down there,” he said. “It’s going to be a real jewel.”