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The Journals
of Lewis and Clark: Dates March 1806
The following
excerpts are taken from entries of the Journals of Lewis
and Clark. Dates: March 1806
March, 1806
Difficulty of procuring means of subsistence for the party--they
determine to resume their journey to the mountains--they
leave in the hands of the Indians a written memorandum,
importing their having penetrated to the Pacific, through
the route of the Missouri and Columbia, and through the
Rocky mountains--the party commence their return route--dexterity
of the Cathlamah Indians in carving--description of the
Coweliskee river--they experience much hospitality from
the natives--an instance of the extreme voracity of the
vulture--the party are visited by many strange Indians,
all of whom are kind and hospitable--scarcity of game, and
embarrassments of the party on that account--captain Clarke
discovers a tribe not seen in the descent down the Columbia--singular
adventure to obtain provisions from them--particular description
of the Multomah village and river--description of mount
Jefferson--some account by captain Clarke of the Neerchokio
tribe, and of their architecture--their sufferings by the
small-pox.
Many reasons had determined us to remain at fort Clatsop
till the first of April. Besides the want of fuel in the
Columbian plains, and the impracticability of passing the
mountains before the beginning of June, we were anxious
to see some of the foreign traders, from whom, by means
of our ample letters of credit, we might have recruited
our exhausted stores of merchandise. About the middle of
March however, we become seriously alarmed for the want
of food: the elk, our chief dependence, had at length deserted
their usual haunts in our neighborhood, and retreated to
the mountains. We were too poor to purchase other food from
the Indians, so that we were sometimes reduced, notwithstanding
all the exertions of our hunters, to a single day's provision
in advance. The men too, whom the constant rains and confinement
had rendered unhealthy, might we hoped be benefitted by
leaving the coast, and resuming the exercise of traveling.
We
therefore determined to leave fort Clatsop, ascend the river
slowly, consume the month of March in the woody country,
where we hope to find subsistence, and in this way reach
the plains about the first of April, before which time it
will be impossible to attempt crossing them: for this purpose
we began our preparations. During the winter we had been
very industrious in dressing skins, so that we now had a
sufficient quantity of clothing, besides between three and
four hundred pair of moccasins. But the whole stock of goods
on which we are to depend, either for the purchase of horses
or of food, during the long tour of nearly four thousand
miles, is so much diminished, that it might all be tied
in two handkerchiefs. We have in fact nothing but six blue
robes, one of scarlet, a coat and hat of the United States
artillery uniform, five robes made of our large flag, and
a few old clothes trimmed with riband. We therefore feel
that our chief dependence must be on our guns, which fortunately
for us are all in good order, as we had taken the precaution
of bringing a number of extra locks, and one of our men
proved to be an excellent artist in that way. The powder
had been secured in leaden canisters, and though on many
occasions they had been under water, it remained perfectly
dry, and we now found ourselves in possession of one hundred
and forty pounds of powder, and twice that quantity of lead,
a stock quite sufficient for the route homewards.
After much trafficking, we at last succeeded in purchasing
a canoe for a uniform coat and half a carrot of tobacco,
and took a canoe from the Clatsops, as a reprisal for some
elk which some of them had stolen from us in the winter.
We were now ready to leave fort Clatsop, but the rain prevented
us for several days from caulking the canoes, and we were
forced to wait for calm weather, before we could attempt
to pass point William. In the meantime we were visited by
many of our neighbors, for the purpose of taking leave of
us. The Clatsop Commowool has been the most kind and hospitable
of all the Indians in this quarter: we therefore gave him
a certificate of the kindness and attention which we had
received from him, and added a more substantial proof of
our gratitude, the gift of all our houses and furniture.
To the Chinnook chief Delashelwilt, we gave a certificate
of the same kind.
We
also circulated among the natives several papers, one of
which we also posted up in the fort, to the following effect:
"The object of this last, is, that through the medium of
some civilized person, who may see the same, it may be made
known to the world, that the party consisting of the persons
whose names are hereunto annexed, and who were sent out
by the government of the United States to explore the interior
of the continent of North America, did penetrate the same
by the way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, to the discharge
of the latter into the Pacific ocean, where they arrived
on the 14th day of November 1805, and departed the 23d day
of March, 1806, on their return to the United States, by
the same route by which they had come out."* On the back
of some of these papers, we sketched the connexion of the
upper branches of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, with
our route, and the track which we intended to follow on
our return. This memorandum was all that we deemed it necessary
to make; for there seemed but little chance that any detailed
report to our government, which we might leave in the hands
of the savages, to be delivered to foreign traders, would
ever reach the United States. To leave any of our men here,
in hopes of their procuring a passage home in some transient
vessel, would too much weaken our party, which we must necessarily
divide during our route; besides that, we will most probably
be there ourselves sooner than any trader, who, after spending
the next summer here, might go on some circuitous voyage.
The rains and wind still confined us to the fort; but at
last our provisions dwindled down to a single day's stock,
and it became absolutely necessary to remove: we therefore
sent a few hunters ahead, and stopped the boats as well
as we could with mud. The next morning, on March 23, 1806,
the journey home began.
Sunday,
March 23, 1806, the canoes were loaded, and at one o'clock
in the afternoon we took a final leave of fort Clatsop.
The wind was still high, but the alternative of remaining
without provisions was so unpleasant, that we hoped to be
able to double point William. We had scarcely left the fort
when we met Delashelwilt, and a party of twenty Chinnooks,
who understanding that we had been trying to procure a canoe,
had brought one for sale. Being, however, already supplied,
we left them, and after getting out of Meriwether's bay,
began to coast along the south side of the river: we doubled
point William without any injury, and at six o'clock reached,
at the distance of sixteen miles from fort Clatsop, the
mouth of a small creek, where we found our hunters.
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