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May 20, 2008
Organization picks L&C portage route for endangered list By Tribune Staff Citing the threat of the proposed coal-fired Highwood Generating Station, the National Trust for Historic Preservation plans to name a Great Falls-area site to its 2008 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The Lewis and Clark portage site marks the location where the historic expedition faced its most challenging obstacle Ñ the 18-mile, 31-day portage around the falls of the Missouri River in 1805. "Today, the construction of a massive coal-fired power plant ... in the site's front yard threatens to irreparably damage the cultural and visual landscape of this National Historic Landmark," the organization said in a media release. The National Trust for Historic Preservation plans to make the announcement at 11 a.m. today at the national offices of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation in the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at 4201 Giant Springs Road. Southern Montana Electric Generation and Transmission Cooperative is seeking financial support to build the Highwood Generating Station, a $720 million coal-fired power plant, about eight miles east of Great Falls. "What makes the threat to the Great Falls portage especially troubling is that it could pave the way for future development on this as well as other culturally significant sites across the country with industrial parks, transmission lines and manufacturing businesses that would further compromise these unique historic landscapes," said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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