Paul Wages will provide a presentation on the details contained within the 1802 Aaron Arrowsmith Map of North America, which is the same map displayed in the lobby of the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.

The shape of this 1802 projection of North America is virtually identical to a modern map.

The program begins at 7 p.m. Feb. 10, with a reception at 6:30 p.m.

Both the program and reception are free to the public and are sponsored by the Portage Route Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance, and the Lewis and Clark Foundation.

The program is a part of the Ida Johnson Lecture Series.

The map heading states,”Map Exhibiting all the New Discoveries in the Interior Parts of NORTH AMERICA Inscribed by Permission To the Honorable Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudsons Bay. In testimony of their liberal Communications To their most Obedient and very Humble Servant, A. Arrowsmith.”

Details contained within the map were available to Lewis and Clark and surely contributed to their decisions and planning related to their trip to the Pacific Northwest.

“But who were these “company of adventurers of England” and how were “their liberal communications” incorporated in Arrowsmith’s map of North America? And what scientific discoveries enabled these adventurers to provide such accurate surveys of the geography of the lands they explored? Paul Wages will discuss these and other fascinating features of the map,” according to the event organizers.

Wages claims “to almost be a native of Montana,” having accompanied his parents to Great Falls in 1963.

He grew up in Great Falls but eventually moved with his parents to Cascade where he met his future wife Gail. Wages graduated from Montana Tech and spent most of his career in the oil industry.

He retired in 2017 and started volunteering at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in 2022. He became a board member of the Portage Route Chapter of the Lewis & Clark Trail Alliance in 2025.