A new book details the history of Kansas City's Kaw Point and the debate over the death of Meriwether Lewis.
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(Up to Date, 10-01-09) In 1804 the explorer team of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark landed on the area now known as Kaw Point, the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers.
They spent four days and three nights at Kaw Point repairing a boat and catching up on sleep after a five week trip up the Missouri River. The findings of the team paved the way for U.S. westward expansion.
Five years later on October 11th, 1809 Meriwether Lewis was found dead of two gunshot wounds, possibly self-inflicted.
Host Steve Kraske talks with local re-enactor Dewayne Knot and Lewis scholar Thomas Danisi, co-author of a new book titled Meriwether Lewis.
Knot and Danisi discuss the life of the explorer and Louisiana Territory governor, and the theories surrounding the death of Lewis, including one that purports that Lewis was murdered and another that his death was an accident brought on by incurable malaria.