Wisconsin has inserted itself into an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case dealing directly with the famous 1805 westward journey of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
William Clark and Meriwether Lewis
The high court is set to hear oral arguments in the case next week.
As The Washington Post describes it:
“PPL Montana v. Montana asks the court to decide who owns the lands below three Montana rivers and pits the state against a company that operates three hydroelectric dams along the waterways. Both sides say the outcome could affect the control of riverbeds throughout the nation, especially in the West.”
The court had decided years ago that states own the rights to their rivers that were navigable at the time of statehood. In this particular issue, the state of Montana is seeking back taxes, $53 million in all, from a power company that operates dams below three current rivers even though the state had never publicly claimed the land until a court case earlier this decade.
Wisconsin and 25 other states are defending the right of Montana.
So, the question before the Supreme Court will be “To determine whether a river is navigable, does a court look at how the river whether the river is navigable now or instead whether at whether it was navigable when the state joined the Union?”
The Post goes on to write that both sides are using the 1805 journals as evidence in the case.
“Besides the questions of law, the justices will be called upon to act as historians, trying to discern the navigability of the rivers at the time Montana became a state in 1889. It starts with Lewis coming upon the Great Falls of the upper Missouri River in June 1805.
“My ears were saluted with the agreeable sound of a fall of water and advancing a little further I saw the spray arrise above the plain like a column of smoke,” Lewis wrote, adding that he heard “a roaring too tremendous to be mistaken for any cause short of the great falls of the Missouri.”
Should be a fascinating case to watch even if the explorers only visited our neighbors, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri and didn’t travel through Wisconsin.
JOEY, DO YOU LIKE COMMERCIALS ABOUT WISCONSIN?
Wisconsin native and comedic film genius David Zucker is set to come home this winter to
Shorewood native David Zucker
film the state’s newest tourism spot. The Business Journal in Milwaukee reports that the Shorewood-born director, producer and screenwriter of movies like “Airplane,” “The Naked Gun,” “The Kentucky Friend Movie,” and the “Police Squad” television program will shoot the upcoming winter spot for the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.
The paper reports:
“The commercial, which will depict both indoor and outdoor winter activities, will use the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and be shot on Dec. 15. It is scheduled to begin airing in Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Milwaukee the week of Jan. 9.
Zucker has been involved with some of the most financially successful comedy films of the past three decades as director, writer and producer.
“While I haven’t had opportunities to work in my home state, I remain a tried and true Wisconsin booster,” said Zucker. “I hope this is the beginning of working on more projects in the state.”
If you didn’t get the movie reference in the headline to this posting, click on the clip below for one of the greatest scenes of all time.
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