The Lolo Trail: A History and a Guide to the Trail of Lewis and Clark

THE LOLO TRAIL: A HISTORY AND GUIDE TO THE TRAIL OF LEWIS AND CLARK by Ralph S. Space (second edition) has a preface by Stephen Ambrose, in which he calls the author "the expert on the Lolo Trail. (Ralph Space) lived and breathed the Lolo Trail and with this book he has left us with a superb history but also a practical guide that's very useful for visitors who may want to discover the Trail during the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition." Ralph Space describes each day's drama during Lewis and Clark's odysseys on The Lolo Trail in 1805 and 1806. He analyzes Lewis and Clark's decisions with the crisp authority of someone who has lived his whole life in the headwaters of the Columbia River. Space also tells about the Native Americans who used this ancestral route to the buffalo, the trappers and traders who successfully adapted to this place, and the adventures of the U.S. Forest Service rangers in this wild and unforgiving country. THE LOLO TRAIL is als! o a guide to this rugged geography, so much of which is unchanged from the day of the Corps of Discovery.

In his introduction to THE LOLO TRAIL, Bud Moore write, "Kansas-born Ralph Space moved, at age one, with the family to Idaho in 1902 and grew up on a ranch located between Weippe and Pierce. At eighteen, he began work for the U.S. Forest Service and hiked the Lolo Trail for the first time in 1924. Following several assignments in other parts of the Northern Rockies, he returned to his home country as supervisor of the Clearwater National Forest. His homecoming allowed him to renew his avocation: finding and recording the Clearwater’s history, including that of the Lolo Trail.

"On occasion, daughter Judy accompanied Ralph as he searched for tread and artifacts along the Lolo Trail. While he worked, she took photos. Judy says, 'He thought it important that those things be found and preserved before they were lost. Dad took time. Never missed a thing in the woods.'

"Ralph retired from government service in 1963 but continued to devote vigorous attention to history. In 1970 he published The Lolo Trail, highly respected for its accuracy by recreationists and professional historians alike. He died in June 1993 at age 92."