Ralph Space in his book, The Clearwater Story: A History of the Clearwater National Forest, writes about his search for the Clark Tree that he heard stories about. He heard several people that said Lewis and Clark's names were carved in it.

He searched for the tree during some of his excursions on the forest, particularly in the El Dorado, Lolo and Cedar Creek areas. He later learned that it was a deception of a retired Forest Service employee who had been the person who carved the names in the tree.

While Space was Clearwater National Forest supervisor, he did designate a group of virgin timber as the Lewis and Clark Grove and reserved it from being cut. While he and another Forest Service staff member were marking the grove, they also designated a huge white pine as 'Clark's Tree'.

The designation was an administrative action at the time. Soon after, the area was withdrawn from mineral entry. When the Nez Perce National Historical Park came into being, this grove became one of the units to be administered jointly by the National Park and Forest services. It then became a National Historical Site, and so it will remain, Space said.

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