LEWIS AND CLARK ON THE LOWER COLUMBIA RIVER

The Lewis and Clark expedition floated what is now the Portland to Astoria portion of the Columbia River in early November of 1805 on their way to the Pacific Ocean. OK, so they did it 205 years before Dry Bag Dave and Paddlin' Paul did it - big deal! They had a lot of help; we were just two older guys.

The river has changed in many significant ways since 1805 as a result of European settlement and development. There are, however, moments on the river that take me back in time. In very specific locations, usually during winter or early spring when there are very few people recreating on the river, a landscape view and a lack of modern human noises ushers me into history. One of these favorite locations for me is just upstream of Cathlamet, along the Washington shore, where spring runoff creates a seasonal waterfall off a high basalt cliff. If I position my kayak so the waterfall is behind me, my view across the river to the Oregon side has nothing modern in it; no buildings, highway, towers or other signs of civilization. The waterfall sound covers any faint modern background noise. I am transported back in time, seeing the landforms that the Lewis and Clark party saw; a scene that was home for the native people of the river.

Lewis & Clark map, 1805. The mouth of the Willamette
River is at the bottom right of the map, Wapato
Island on the map is the present day Sauvie Island.
Clusters of small triangles indicate villiages of native
people. Downstream is towards the top of the map. 

The Lewis and Clark party left their camp on what is now Government Island on the morning of November 4, 1805 and paddled downstream along the shore of "Wappato Island," now known as Sauvie Island (note that I'll use modern names for places on the river, unless I specifically refer to a name used by Lewis and Clark). They noted 8 villages with about 2,500 residents on the island, and the Indians introduced the travelers to the root of the wapato plant, something Lewis and Clark noted were like potatoes. The expedition also traded with Indians for dogs, which they used for fresh meat. They camped that night on the Washington shore at RM95, across from Wappato Island, near a small bottomland lake now called Post Office Lake in the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. It was not a restful night, as Clark observed in his journal (first draft): "I could not Sleep for the noise kept by the Swans, Geese, white & black brant, Ducks &c. on a opposit base, & Sand hill Crane, they were emensely numerous and their noise horrid."

On November 5 they passed the Lewis River, dined on Deer Island ("crouded with Indians"), and camped downstream from the mouth of the Kalama River near Prescott Beach, on the Oregon side, at about RM71. The expedition camped on a narrow stone beach just downstream of Cape Horn, at RM48 for the night of November 6. The night of November 7 was spent on the Washington side in sight of Pillar Rock, at about RM 27. The men thought they had reached the ocean, and wrote this in their journals. What they really were seeing was the very wide lower estuary and Grays Bay of the Columbia River.

From November 8 until November 25, the expedition was on the Washington side of the lower river, basically trapped on that side by weather and rough water in the estuary. They had some miserable and dangerous times during that period, but worked their way to the ocean. The expedition set up camp at Station Camp, about RM10, just downstream of where the Astoria-Megler Bridge is located today. They used Station Camp for 10 nights. Captain Lewis and 4 men made their way from Station Camp to the Pacific Ocean, and upon their return Captain Clark and 11 men took their turn to the ocean, where they traveled north a short way up the coast.

On the evening of November 24, at Station Camp, the expedition voted on whether to stay on the north (Washington) side or south side for the winter. The south, or Oregon side won, and the expedition went back upriver to their Pillar Rock campsite, where they could safely cross the river to the south side. Once across the river, they camped along the south channel of Cathlamet Bay, between RM19 and 20 for the night of November 26.

Lewis & Clark map, 1805. Tongue Point, lower Columbia River.
Present day Astoria is to the left of Tongue Point; the mouth of
the Columbia River at the Pacific Ocean is to the far left. 

From November 27 until December 6 the expedition camped on the leeward (upstream) side of Tongue Point, RM18. The water around the tip of the point was very rough, as noted in the men's journals. During that period, Captain Lewis and 5 men traveled downstream looking for a winter camp, and the expedition finally moved to their winter quarters at Fort Clatsop on December 7, 1805. They stayed the winter at Fort Clatsop and began the journey back home in March, 1806. The expedition camped in 7 different locations on their way back upriver between Astoria and Portland.

Dry Bag and I made similar distances downriver per day as the Lewis and Clark expedition. We spent our third night at Vista Park, near Skamokawa, Washington, about RM33, approximately 6 miles upstream from the Lewis and Clark camp near Pillar Rock. We knew that the estuary widened below that area, and that trying to cross to the Oregon side further downstream would be difficult and possibly dangerous because of wind and waves. Lewis and Clark had to discover this themselves. So on our fourth morning, Bag and I crossed the river just downstream of Vista Park and entered the wide, island-filled southern part of the Columbia River Estuary.

We fought the falling tide, strong currents and wind for a few hours, finally crossing Cathlamet Bay to the east, or lee side of Tongue Point. I'll write about this grueling crossing in my next post, but we finally made land on Tongue Point and wolfed down our lunch, not far from the site where Lewis and Clark camped for ten nights.

Many things have changed along the lower Columbia River since Lewis and Clark and their companions made their journey. The landscape is different now, and the river itself has been altered by dredging and filling. Even the natural rhythms of the river are different because of upstream dams. But some things have not changed. The 2 daily tidal changes, the wind patterns, the landforms and geology, many of the fish and wildlife are the same as those experienced by the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Dry Bag and I know this from experience, and in that way we and the expedition members are brothers.

In fact, Dry Bag Dave is a relative, on his mother's side, of one of the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Private Hugh Hall. It is known that Hall had a tendency to drink to excess, and received lashings at least twice for infractions of the rules. Little is known of him after the expedition; however, he might be implicated in one of the great academic mysteries of the expedition. There is some evidence that Hugh Hall kept a journal during the expedition, and this might be the "missing 7th journal" that scholars have theorized about. A story has it that an old journal written by Hugh Hall was passed down in the family, eventually being passed on to Hall's great grandson, John Hall, by John's great aunt. When John Hall was stricken with polio, his mother got possession of the book. and it was destroyed when her home burned to the ground in the great 1961 Bel-Aire fire in Los Angeles.

Fortunately, Dry Bag never drank to excess on our journey, and there was no need for me to give him lashes!

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Sources:
The Lewis and Clark Journals:  http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/index.html
Lewis and Clark expedition campsites: http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/campsites.html
Nautical Chart image:  http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/PacificCoastViewerTable.shtml