MSU-based center assists in search for lost Lewis and Clark boat

By Chandra Morris, MSU TechLink Center

8/14/01

The Montana State University TechLink Center, MSU's technology transfer organization and the U.S. Air Force are partnering an archeologist with cutting edge technology to find a boat used by an Army expedition more than 200 years ago.

 With Techlink assistance, the Air Force signed an agreement with noted archeologist, Ken Karsmizki, formerly of the Museum of the Rockies, to use an electromagnetic sensor system, mounted on a robotic vehicle, to find an iron boat, buried by Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition.

 Prior to the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806, Captain Meriwether Lewis commissioned an iron boat frame of his own design from the Harper's Ferry arsenal in Virginia. In the summer of 1805, Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery portaged around the Great Falls of the Missouri River, assembled the frame, and tested the boat for its seaworthiness. It leaked. After many days of frustration they gave up, buried the boat frame, and pressed on to the Pacific Ocean. Ken Karsmizki is leading a team of researchers and archeologists to locate Lewis' iron boat, and the Air Force has agreed to assist by employing unique capabilities that will greatly enhance the search.

 The Air Force's International and Technology Transfer Programs Office at Tyndall Air Force Base developed an innovative robotic system, called the Advanced Mobility Research and Development System, or AMRADS. The robot is an all-stainless-steel-tracked vehicle equipped with an electromagnetic sensor, called the EM 61, that locates buried objects. This system was developed under the "Robotics for Agile Combat Support" program at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.

 The precision GPS navigation allows the system to locate objects within about four inches. Data is collected with a computer that interfaces with the robot. Scientists can piece together the subsurface imagery to plot the anomalies and locate buried objects with great precision. The robot outperforms manually driven systems and can achieve near 100 percent coverage of the area, Air Force officials say.

 "The Air Force is using a robot to find a boat that the Army buried 200 years ago," said David Weston of MSU TechLink. "I think Captain Lewis would be excited."

 TechLink learned of Karsmizki's unique needs while he was working with MSU's Museum of the Rockies and assisted in the development of this project by identifying an Air Force program with the innovative capabilities to perform the underground search.

 The project builds on efforts funded by the National Geographic Society. The original work included identifying Lewis and Clark's upper portage site using historical maps, archival data, and remote sensing imagery. Magnetic survey equipment was used to further refine the target area.

 The Air Force expects to deploy the AMRADS system, equipped with the EM-61, to Great Falls, Montana later this summer.

 The MSU TechLink Center is funded by the Department of Defense and NASA to link companies in Montana and the surrounding region with federal laboratories for joint research and technology transfer.

 For more information about Techlink activities, go to: http://techlink.msu.montana.edu/techlink.html

Send questions or comments to Carol Schmidt: cschmidt@montana.edu. Or you can send letters to Carol Schmidt, MSU Communications Services, 416 Culbertson Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717.

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