March. 1806
Excitement in Fort Clatsop was mounting each day as the Corps of Discovery began making plans to start the homeward trek. The captains checked the ammunition. Four pounds of powder was encased in each eight-pound lead canister. The canisters would be used to make lead minnie balls—a system Lewis had devised back in Pittsburgh.
“That was an ingenious method you invented,” Clark told him as they finished the inventory of the expedition’s supplies.
“Thanks. It has worked out well. And it looks like we have plenty of ammunition to get us back home safely,” Lewis responded as Clark made notations in their journal.
Rain continued daily, and winter on the Pacific Coast brought strong winds, heavy clouds, and crashing tides. At night, the Corps’ prized Indian canoe broke loose and floated away. Sergeant Gass discovered its loss when he checked the moorings at daybreak. Losing that canoe would be a considerable loss because it was so well made and so lightweight that four men could carry it on their shoulders a mile or more without resting. It could carry up to fifteen hundred pounds of supplies along with three men. Captain Clark sent seven men to search for it and also to retrieve elk meat the hunters had killed and dressed the day before. Toward evening, the men returned with the meat but without the canoe. Next day three men were sent out to find the missing canoe, but failed. Evidently it had floated far out of the area. On the third day, Sergeant Gass and a party of five determined men set out to find the canoe and finally spotted it trapped in a marsh.
“Good work, men,” Lewis said with relief. “We damned sure can’t afford to lose that canoe.”
Two men from the salt camp arrived at the fort to report illness there. “Gibson and Bratton are very sick, Captain Lewis,” Henry Cooper said with obvious concern.
“What’s wrong with them?”
“We have no idea.”
“Sergeant Pryor, take five men and a canoe and bring those two men back to the fort,” Lewis ordered. “Leave two men there to replace them.”
By nightfall, Pryor’s group carried in the two ailing soldiers wrapped in blankets. Lewis and Clark spent the night trying to diagnose the men’s ailments. Administering laudanum and Glauber salts, they managed to make the men comfortable enough to sleep through the night, and by morning both men were a little better.
Candlefish—another species new to science—began to run in immense numbers in the numerous waterways. The Clatsops netted them and brought them to the fort to sell to the captains.
“What are these, and what would we do with them?” Lewis asked. “They’re too small to provide anybody with a meal.”
The fish were only seven inches long, but the Clatsops insisted they were good food.
“How do you cook them?” Lewis inquired.
One Clatsop took a dozen candlefish and gutted them, then built a fire and strung the fish on a spit over the fire. When they were roasted, he handed one to Lewis.
The captain accepted the fish with low expectations and finished it off in three bites. “Say! These are really good!”
The Indians smiled and nodded as Lewis passed the remaining candlefish to curious men around him. Their approval came with smiles and nods. The sale was completed and roast candlefish became a welcome relief from the monotony of elk meat for all meals.
To the captains, the health of the men was becoming a major concern. Someone was always down with a cold, the flu, a venereal disease, or strained muscles. Lewis could treat their health conditions, but he could do nothing about their diet, the climate with its endless rain, or boredom from monotony of camp life.
There was a bright spot in February, however. On Pomp’s first birthday, Captain Clark made a “birthday cake” from Indian bread, and all the men gathered around the baby, wishing him a happy birthday. Clark had carved a little toy horse as a gift, and some of the other men had made similar toys for the occasion. Seaman, sensing that something out of the ordinary was happening, inspected every toy at great length while the men laughed and patted him affectionately. Sacagawea showed Pomp his gifts, explaining each as though he could understand her words. He gleefully waved his fat little arms and jabbered as if he knew what the occasion was, his dark eyes sparkling with excitement.
“It’s too bad he won’t remember this, Janie,” Clark said.
“But we will,” Sacagawea smiled.
Bratton became much worse, suffering great pain in his back. Lewis prepared a liniment from alcohol, camphor, and castile soap and rubbed Bratton’s back thoroughly and carefully. Then he bathed and massaged Bratton’s feet to help with circulation. Nothing seemed to help.
With spring finally approaching, the men hauled their canoes out of the water and corked and pitched them. Drouillard went to the nearest Clatsop village to try to buy another Indian canoe for their journey home, set to begin March 23. Drouillard returned not only with a canoe but with the Indians who sold it to him.
“They want to stay in the fort tonight,” he told Captain Clark.
Lewis, walking up at that moment, said, “Well, if that will get us the canoe, they’re welcome.”
Unfortunately, by morning the Clatsops had changed their minds about selling the canoe.’
“Damn!” Lewis exclaimed. “We desperately need another one of their excellent canoes. Our dugouts just don’t measure up. Drouillard, take some men to another village and see if you can buy one of theirs.”
But Drouillard’s quests in other villages were also unsuccessful.
When the old hag showed up again with her six young girls to barter their sexual services, the captains called all the men together.
Lewis spoke. “These are the same women who gave many of you venereal diseases last fall.” Surveying the faces of the many men he had treated, he added, “I’m asking you now to have nothing more to do with them because we can’t afford to have you getting sick again. Besides, you want to be healthy when we get home.” Faces lit up at the very thought of being home again. The men agreed, and the disappointed old bawd left the fort with her girls.
The men continued to repair their canoes and goods for departure, even as the weather continued to bring rain, hail, thunder, and lightning. Upon inspecting the vessels available for their return journey, Lewis frowned.
“Clark, somehow or other we’ve got to get another of those Clatsop canoes,” Lewis said with real concern. “Our dugout canoes are just too heavy and awkward to fight the current on the Columbia River.”
“Well, I have an idea, but you may not like it.” He glanced at his friend and raised his eyebrows. “We’ve tried every way possible to buy one, and the Indians—even our friends—refuse to sell us one.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry to say.”
“I’d hate to do it, but we might have to steal one, Meriwether.”
Shocked, Lewis looked at his co-commander with surprise. A moment of consideration followed. “Our return trip will be one of scarcity and uncertainty,” Lewis said. “We don’t have enough canoes that can deal with the Columbia River current and to carry all our supplies. Getting another of their canoes is crucial to our survival—it may mean the difference between arriving home with all our team and our records or bemoaning their loss to the river.”
Clark was contemplating the possibilities. “Well,” he said, “we won’t be back this way. We’ll never see the Clatsops again.”
“If it’s a matter of the success or failure of our mission, I think we can justify stealing one canoe. We have to have one. I just hate to ruin the good relations we have built with the Clatsops.”
Clark brightened. “We can give them Fort Clatsop as compensation,” he suggested.
“Excellent idea! What could we do with it anyway?” Lewis was smiling.
Four men were dispatched that day to travel to a distant Clatsop village down the coast, far from the fort, where they stole a Clatsop canoe. They brought it back and hid it until departure of the Corps of Discovery. The fort would be given to the nearby Clatsops.
“Sergeant Ordway, take six men and go close down the salt camp,” Lewis instructed as the departure date drew near. “Bring back the men working there and everything else of value.”
When Ordway set out, he decided to save time by going directly overland instead of by canoe. Shortly after leaving the fort, however, his detachment was struck by a sudden, fierce storm. The wind blew stinging, freezing rain into the men’s faces, and thunder, lightning, and high wind tormented them further. They came across an abandoned Indian lodge and decided to spend the night in it.
“Gather some wood and let’s build a fire and try to dry out our wet clothes,” Ordway shouted above the roaring wind.
They built a fire, cooked some elk meat, and settled down to spend a comfortable night indoors while the storm raged outside.
“I’m really glad to be going home,” Shannon said to no one in particular. “Sitting inside with a warm fire and a full belly while the goldarn wind and thunder threaten outside makes me think of home. I miss it. I guess I’m homesick for my folks and my own bed.”
McNeal was sitting on the floor close to the fire. “For sure, it will be good to get out of this damned climate with constant rain where everything mildews and smells musty,” he said. He pulled absent-mindedly at his nose and added, “I just can’t wait to get started!”
At morning light, wind from the northwest continued to blow fiercely into their faces as they struggled toward the salt camp. When they reached the coast, the storm had churned the ocean into huge waves that crashed violently against the shore. The men, a desolate group, walked along the coast with the storm driving into them head-on until they finally reached the salt camp.
“God! Are we ever glad to get here!” Ordway exclaimed as he greeted the salt crew. The men entered the hut, slapping their dripping hats against their legs and hands to dislodge the rain. “I made a big mistake by deciding to come overland.”
“Come on in and get warm and dry,” Gass greeted his comrades from the fort. “No one should be out in this weather—it isn’t fit for man or beast.”
“Or plants either,” Ordway added.
The group enjoyed the camaraderie as well as a comfortable night while the storm blew outside. In the morning Ordway’s party and the men from the salt camp returned to the fort by canoes, loaded with supplies.
The captains checked and double-checked supplies for the return trip, especially rifles and ammunition, their only means of hunting and defending themselves on their two-thousand-miles trip through Indian country. In the past three months the men had made 368 pairs of moccasins for the return journey. They wanted to be sure to avoid the discomfort and danger of being barefoot when rocks and nettles were underfoot.
The Corps of Discovery was desperately poor now, starting for home with only a handful of trading items to barter for food when necessary. They had one red robe and six blue ones, Clark’s one uniform coat and hat, five robes made from a large flag, and a few other lightweight clothes. They had supplies and trading goods buried in their caches along the Missouri River, if those items had not been discovered and stolen.
Drouillard came down with a pain in his side, much like pleurisy, and Captain Clark bled him. Several other men were also ill. Bratton remained very weak and had lost so much weight that Lewis worried about his recovery. The captains hoped the men would be in better health on the homeward trip than they had been in the unhealthy climate at Fort Clatsop.
Lewis gave several Clatsop chiefs a list of the names of all the people in the Corps of Discovery to provide proof they had crossed the continent and had arrived at the Pacific Ocean. Proof of this accomplishment could be needed in the future to certify that the United States owned the right of discovery to establish ownership and settlement.
Before starting their return journey at noon on March 23, the captains held a formal ceremony to present Fort Clatsop to the nearby Clatsop people. They called together all the members of the Corps of Discovery and invited the local Clatsop village.
“To honor the friendship of the Clatsop people and our people, I bestow Fort Clatsop upon your village,” Captain Lewis announced. “We have lived among you and have grown fond of you. We will always consider you our friends. We wish you well in the future.”
The chief of the local village stepped forward and shook Lewis’s hand.
“We are sorry to see you go,” he signed. “We have been good friends. We wish you good fortune on your journey.”
It was a touching moment for the Indians and the members of the expedition as both parties recalled their mutual support and friendship. The soldiers, however, were excited and eager to begin their long trip. After a short prayer by Captain Clark calling upon God’s blessing and protection, the Corps of Discovery began its return voyage in three large canoes and two small ones.
The Columbia River was very high from the long season of constant rain, and progress was difficult. They hadn’t gone far when they saw the old bawd and her six girls, who had come in a canoe carrying the skin of a sea otter, dried fish, and hats for sale in addition to an offer of the girls’ services. The captains bought the skin only, and with a strong breeze from the southwest, the men set out in high spirits.
Paddling up the Columbia River against the current and high waves was a real challenge—worse than the entry on the Missouri had been so long ago. Just as with the Missouri, they had to tow the canoes at the rapids and portage around the falls. They passed several Indian villages and were frequently joined by a fleet of canoes filled with Indians who stayed with them for several miles, evidently looking them over. The expedition camped on Quicksand River and remained a day or so to make celestial observations and to hunt—but game was scarce.
White cedars were plentiful here, and vast stands were stripped of their bark, indicating that Indians had been there during the past few months. As days passed, finding adequate food became a real problem, as were multitudes of Indians along the entire length of the Columbia River who observed them with unsettling curiosity.
Drouillard communicated with passing Indians in sign language and reported to Clark, “Captain, the Indians all say that the people up river are starving, and the salmon won’t begin to run for another month.”
“That’s bad news,” Clark told Lewis. “We know there will be no game in the mountains.”
“I think we’d better stop for a few days and try to lay in enough meat to last at least until we get to the mountains,” Lewis responded.
Men who were not hunting collected wood to make a scaffold on which to smoke the meat. Some of the meat was cut into thin strips to be smoked and dried. Natives descending the river stopped to visit the expedition camp, scavenging bones and little pieces of gristle the soldiers had thrown away. One Indian was brash and foolish enough to try to forcibly wrest a tomahawk from John Colter, who looked like the smallest of all the soldiers. The brave had unknowingly chosen one of the toughest of the soldiers, however, and Colter soundly thrashed him. The Indians constantly loitered near the expedition until Lewis decided it was time to get rid of them.
“Sergeant Ordway, set up a target. Let’s have a little target practice and see if we can motivate these people to leave us alone,” he ordered.
Ordway selected the five best shots in the Corps and demonstrated their expertise with firearms. The Indians left immediately. As the expedition worked its way up the river, however, more Indians were always present and ready to steal anything left unguarded even for an instant, forcing the captains to detail guards to protect the supplies. The expedition had not yet left stormy weather behind, and twice the crashing tide forced them to move their camp to higher ground.
“Damn this weather and the thieving Indians!” Lewis muttered one evening with uncharacteristic disgust.
“Be patient, Meriwether,” Clark counseled. “We’ll be rid of both soon.”
The Corps stopped at an Indian village long enough to buy wapato roots and fish, then proceeded to the mouth of a river, where they camped. Clark sent six hunters ahead to Deer Island while the rest of the men brought the small canoes into camp to repair them.
Next morning, the expedition encountered a large Indian village of joined huts and stayed three hours while Clark bought dogs and wapato roots from them. Then the expedition proceeded to an abandoned Indian village, where they camped. Local Indians visited them. Their women, instead of wearing the straw-and-bark skirts of the Clatsops and Chinooks, wore a soft leather breach cloth and nothing more.
The next day the river rose so high that the roaring tide could not affect it. The expedition passed two Indian villages on a large island that was twenty-five miles long, partly timbered, and partly open prairie with surrounding countryside that was low and level. They passed an Indian village that had been large and heavily populated when they passed it last fall, but now the Indians were scattered up and down the river, and only two lodges remained in the village.
“I wonder what happened to them,” Clark mused.
“I would guess that some disease struck the village,” Lewis said as he recalled the large community and the activity they had seen here previously.