ST. LOUIS (AP) – Standing under the Gateway Arch, representatives from France, Spain and the United States marked the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the country’s size at a cost of about two cents an acre.
The ceremony on Sunday culminated the weeklong Three Flags Festival, which included symposiums, historical exhibits and performances. But the final word went to the Osage Indians, who ended the celebration by chanting and drumming the Osage Prayer Song.
“It’s a prayer for hope, for the future, for a better tomorrow,” said James Roan Gray, chief of the Osage Nation, which was not invited to participate in 1804.
President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory in April 1803 for $15 million, and the official transfer of power from Spain to France to the United States took place in March 1804.
After the transfer, Lewis and Clark set off to explore the vast territory. Roan Gray said 95 percent of his tribe died as a result of America’s westward expansion, but that the Osage Nation adapted and rebuilt itself, and has kept its culture intact.
During Sunday’s event, the consul general of Spain, Ambassador Francisco Viqueira, received a standing ovation from the crowd, which also observed a moment of silence for victims of last week’s train bombings in Madrid.
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