Five years ago, before the birth of son Roy Walker, now age 4, Tribune photographer Chris Walker, wife Jenny Lerum and her father, Glen Lerum, climbed into the Walker family’s black Volvo and headed west from their Chicago home to visit relatives in Plainview, in northeast Nebraska. Anticipating long stretches of highway, they had checked out an audiocassette version of the Lewis and Clark journey from their local library before departing.
Over the course of hours and miles, Chris found himself traveling back in time, fascinated by how the land and people had changed in the last 200 years. The terrain seized his imagination and this issue, “On the Trail of Lewis and Clark,” reflects that desire to understand how America has metabolized the expedition over time–and Chris’ dedication to sharing his experience with readers.
“Chris combines a passion for journalistic storytelling, a marvelous aesthetic sensibility and a mastery of a very technical craft,” says Associate Managing Editor Bill Parker. “That’s a pretty special combination.”
Braiding the words of Lewis and Clark with Chris’ photographs taken along the trail, we hope to add a new dimension to the historical record left to us by the brave explorers who set forth two centuries ago. “The explorers had no cameras, but they left us this vivid record in pen and ink,” Chris notes.
Chief Photo Editor Robin Daughtridge, who worked closely with Chris on the project, said, “I hope our readers can see and feel a little of what the passage of 200 years has meant to this country, to our native people. It often seems like we need to know where we’ve been in order to understand where we’re going.”