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Establishing Winter Quarters

By: Phil Scriver, LC200 Historian

Clark wrote in his journal entry for November 16, 1805 the distance the Expedition had traveled from the mouth of the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean was 4,142 miles. Geographical examinations of the journey that were done many years later with much more technically sophisticated equipment show he was less than 40 miles off on his calculations.

Clark took eleven men with him and set out November 18th for the ocean. His 19 miles route around Baker Bay to Cape Disappointment took him over McKenzie Head and past the area where trading ships anchored. They camped for the night in an area later named Fishing Rocks, an area that had been used by the Chinook Indians for at least a thousand years. Clark remarked, “the men were astonished by the huge ocean waves crashing into the rocky shoreline.” The next day Clark’s party went nine miles farther up the coast to a point near Long Beach before turning and retracing their steps. At their camp that night on the Chinook River they killed a deer that was new to science; it is now known as the Columbian Black Tail and is the common deer for that area. Clark also describes a black root about the size and shape of a carrot that was a main food source for the Indians. We know it as the edible thistle, which was new to science.

When Clark got back to the main camp a number of Indians were there trading with the men who had stayed behind. Lewis purchased a sea otter robe with a belt of blue beads that had belonged to Sacajawea, he had given her a blue cloth coat for the belt. The men traded for round conical hats made of grass and bark. Clark notes, “these Indians have traded much with the white trading ships. Their prices are very high.” A comment that would be made many more times before the winter was through.

On November 24th the Expedition voted to determine where they would establish their winter camp. Lewis wanted to cross to the south side of the Columbia River and select a site there where elk were readily available and they could make salt with the ocean nearby. Clark agreed and added that elk were easier to hunt than the deer that lived primarily on the north side of the river. He also thought the weather on the coast would be warmer than if they went back upriver to the Great Falls of the Columbia, and there was a possibility of contacting a trading ship for re-supply of their provisions if they were on the coast. But he finished by saying that if these all proved no good then they should return to the Falls because the salt water on the coast was bad for the health. The vote that was taken showed every member of the Expedition voting except Charbonneau. The results were fairly evenly split between the north side of the Columbia, the south side of the Columbia and returning to the Falls. However the majority wanted to go over to the south side. (We can only speculate what would have happened if the vote would have favored another location since both Captains voted for the south side. Remember when the decision was made at the mouth of the Marias River all the men voted for the north river but the route taken was the south river since both Captains voted for that route).

The next day the Expedition loaded up and went back upriver passed Pillar Rock looking for a place to cross the Columbia River. They finally were able to cross through the area known today as the Lewis and Clark Wildlife Refuge. The river was several miles wide, but here there were a number of islands that broke the river into narrower channels the small dugout canoes could navigate. These are the Seal Islands. They camped for the night in Oregon near present day Svenson. The group finally worked its way passed Tongue Point and stopped east of present day Astoria. The waves were too high and the canoes could not continue any farther. In fact one canoe split apart just as it was drawn out of the water. The Captains decided that Clark would stay at this place with the main party while Lewis took five men to search for a winter camp location. Clark notes in his journal they are back in a bad situation similar to what they had been while trapped on the rocky point earlier in the month. The weather is bad, the waves are so high they can’t move their loaded canoes, they don’t have any food and the Indians want too much for the food they have. He concludes with, “Oh how disagreeable is our situation during this dreadful weather.”

Lewis and his party of five left in the Indian canoe, going nine miles downriver to camp on the present day Astoria townsite. He sent three men overland but the woods were too thick with undergrowth and downed timber to get through. They passed Young’s River then the Nebul River, but retraced and followed up that river a mile only to return to Young’s River and follow up it for six miles and camp. Lewis finally returns to the main camp on December 5th after having found a good location close to the Nebul River (now called the Lewis and Clark River) where the elk and deer are plentiful. During the search for this campsite Lewis took time to describe a squirrel they killed several of for supper. Today we called it the Richardson Ground Squirrel which was then new to science.

While Lewis was gone Clark apparently became a bit depressed, along with his being sick from the same diet as they had back on the Clearwater River in Idaho. He said the camp on the Columbia was so miserable they couldn’t even avoid the smoke from the campfires “which was emmencely disagreeable and painful to the eyes.” He described the ocean, referring to it as “the Great Western Ocean because since they first saw it until now it roars like a repeating rolling thunder and it is in no way pacific.”

The stormy weather and high winds finally subsided enough for some hunters to get out and get some elk meat. With fresh red meat things seemed to get better in camp. For the next several days the main effort in camp was to get an adequate supply of elk meat. Because the weather was so warm and showery and the forests so difficult to get through keeping fresh meat became close to impossible. Finally on December 7th the Expedition set out for their winter campsite that Lewis had found. It was not too soon for Clark, he noted the tide kept getting higher every day, it rose 13 inches on December 5th, and if it got any higher they would be forced to move regardless of the weather. They were in such a hurry to leave the Columbia shoreline that when York stopped momentarily to adjust the load in his canoe, he was quickly left behind. The route to the winter camp took the Expedition across Young’s Bay then eight miles up Lewis and Clark River.

On December 8th Clark took five men and set out to mark a trail to the ocean so they could start making salt. They established themselves just north of present day Seaside, at a location seven miles from their main camp. Clark noted that he amazed some Indians nearby by shooting the heads off two brants and one duck with his little rifle.

When Clark got back to camp he found everyone busy cutting logs to build their winter fort. This was to be the primary job of the entire Expedition, Captains included, until Fort Clatsop was completed on December 30, 1805. The only things that were to take any men away from construction work was hunting, making salt and sickness. The only exception was on December 18th when it snowed most of the day. Three weeks of heavy labor involved in building the fort took its toll on the men. Many were bruised and battered from the job while others succumbed to the strain of heavy lifting. But there was no complaining and when the logs were all cut, the cabins built, stockade in place, chimneys done and beds made, everyone was able to relax, at last able to get inside and protected from the rain and wind.

Clark recorded that Christmas dinner was pore elk and spoiled fish along with some roots, “a bad Christmas dinner.” But completion of Fort Clatsop revived the Expedition’s spirits and everyone was looking forward to the new year.