When
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark together with the 31 other members of their
“Corps of Discovery” finally reached the Pacific Ocean on the 7th of
November, 1805, a 4000-mile, 18 month long trek across the North American
continent lay behind them, and a fast-approaching winter in a strange land lay
ahead. For all practical purposes, they had “disappeared” from off the surface
of the earth in the eyes of the anxiously waiting leaders and citizens of the
country in whose service they had been dispatched; they couldn’t have been more
“alone” as they contemplated the challenge of their return journey.
After deciding that their chances of
finding food sources were better to the south, across the mouth of the Columbia
River in what is now Oregon, they surveyed and selected a site accessible to
the sea, but protected by heavily-forested game-rich surroundings. Their
greatest asset turned out to be the friendly native Clatsop people who had
occupied that corner of the continent for hundreds of years, and whose
knowledge of land and sea would prove invaluable to the expedition. Not only
were they of a welcoming nature, but they had had prior experience trading with
white visitors from sailing ships, and were quick to bridge language
differences.
With the leadership of their two
Captains, the men soon built log living quarters, a smoke house for preserving meat
and salmon, and defensive picket walls. Reflecting their appreciation for their
native friends who initially shared with them large pieces of blubber from a
beached whale, they named it Fort Clatsop. The hunting of elk and deer became a
winter-long enterprise for the Corps. members as they worked to prepare
everything they would need before undertaking their long return journey of
1806.
The essential preserving element whose supply
had been long exhausted was salt,
and so Capt. Lewis, on December 28th, according to his journal, sent
a small group consisting of Jos. Fields, William Bratton and George Gibson to
find a convenient place near the sea at which they could begin making salt. After
they had found such a place - presently in a restored condition in the town of
Seaside - the operation required five iron kettles and the round-the-clock attendance
of five men tending the fires, carrying buckets from the sea, and then
transporting the finished product to camp 15 miles to the northeast. By
February 15th, and despite illness and injuries, the men had
produced just over three bushels of high grade “white salt”, and the
salt-making camp by the sea was abandoned. (This is a story of special interest
to the author who has visited the site, has a collection of salt from all over
the world, and on whose wall hangs an artist’s rendering of the Lewis &
Clark salt works.)
Sacagawea, the Shoshone wife of
Tousant Charbonneau was an ever-present asset to the expedition, especially in
searching out berries & edible roots and in “gentling” sometimes prickly
relations with the Clatsop people. If there is an unfortunate side to what was
basically a peaceful co-existence between the two cultures, it was a notion on
the part of Capt. Lewis that the natives were untrustworthy and “given to
theft”. I believe that he was mistaken, and in a future article called “The
Story of a Canoe”, I will explain why.
In 1955 – on the 150th
anniversary of the event, the Fort was initially rebuilt by the people of
Oregon. After a fire intervened just
prior to the bicentennial celebration in 2005, it burned to the ground and was
rebuilt bigger and better by 700 volunteers for a 2006 dedication. The
following year, Fort Clatsop became part of one of our nation’s newest
additions to the National Park system to be known as “Lewis & Clark
National Historic Park”.
A replica of the original Lewis & Clark winter quarters as built in 1805. Nat. Park. Svc. Photo
The interior of the Ft. Clatsop quarters were Spartan
at best, and smoky at worst. Al Cooper photo
A
Park employee dressed as a “Corps. of Discovery” Private demonstrates use of a
smooth-bore musket like those expedition hunters used to hunt deer and elk. Cindy Cooper Bagley photo
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