Lewis and Clark were in the Army, you know.

Their famed expedition up the Missouri River, over the Rockies and to the Pacific Ocean was certainly full of adventure and mystery. It also was a military endeavor.

The North Dakota National Guard is using that tie to bring Lewis and Clark history to students across the state. It has two "Discovery Boxes" that newly trained Guard members will bring to schools for presentations. The boxes contain such items as a sextant, medicine bottle, plant press, leather journal, elk leg sinew, uniforms and more. Also inside are learning guides for students in grades four through nine, which will be left at each school.

Lt. Col. Pete Conlin, the North Dakota Guard's historian, has trained 13 members on how to use the Discovery Boxes in the classroom.

"It provides different ways to study Lewis and Clark's cultural and humanities activities, catered to the classroom," said Staff Sgt. Billie Jo Lorius, Lewis and Clark coordinator for the Guard. "We want kids to have a hands-on experience with history. We want to tell them the Lewis and Clark story was a military expedition," and that it was so successful.

Lorius said the project will take place through 2006.

The Guard will concentrate first on schools in the Bismarck-Mandan area but wants eventually to be able to reach all schools in the state. The first scheduled presentations are at 9 and 10 a.m. Sept. 27 at Centennial Elementary School in Bismarck.

To sign up your classroom, contact Lorius at 333-2191.

(Reach Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tspilde@ndonline.com.)