Fort Clatsop National Memorial, OR
Wintering with Lewis & Clark
—Capt. William Clark, Dec. 16, 1805
The weather has changed little during the almost 200 years since Capt. William Clark (a notoriously poor speller), Meriwether Lewis, and the 31 members of the Corps of Discovery reached the Pacific Ocean along Oregon’s north coast following their legendary cross-country trek.
The climate is relentless. This is a place where rain blows sideways in winds off the ocean and dense clouds soak into the lush forests of red cedar, fir, and pine. Perennial darkness and dampness test the spirits of even those who are entranced by its landscapes.
For Lewis, Clark, and their men, there was no respite from the weather. They settled first near what is now McGowan, Wash., but the lack of game drove them across the Columbia River near present-day Warrenton, Ore., (pop. 4,096). There they built Fort Clatsop, a seven-room log compound named after a local American Indian tribe.
Today, a replica of the fort, a visitor’s center, canoe landing, and living history demonstrations, conducted by buckskin-clad rangers during the summer, are part of the Fort Clatsop National Memorial. Rooms in the fort contain flint, journals, skins, and candle making reminiscent of what the explorers used during their three-month stay on the coast. Seeing how the men lived makes it easier to understand the depression and fatigue that seeped into their souls during that winter of 1805-06.
The Lewis and Clark expedition started near St. Louis in 1804 under orders from President Thomas Jefferson to find the most direct overland route to the Pacific. Little was known about the land and its inhabitants west of the Missouri River, so it became the Corps of Discovery’s task to create detailed maps, diagrams, and records of all they encountered. The insufferable weather they encountered upon reaching the Oregon coast may not have been diagrammed but it was recorded.
It rained all but 12 of their 106 days at the fort; days filled with hard labor and hunting for survival. Supplies were already low when the men arrived.
“They traded with American Indians from the region but mostly hunted elk and deer for meat, made tallow for candles, and skins for clothing and bedding,” says Stephanie Acheson, a ranger at Fort Clatsop National Memorial.
Yet clothing rotted and became flea infested due to the dampness. Meat spoiled but was eaten out of necessity, and the men suffered from colds, pneumonia, and dysentery, as well as injured joints and backs.
“Salt became an essential commodity—both to preserve the food and enhance its flavor,” Acheson says.
But the fresh water of the Columbia River weakened salt levels in the ocean waters near the fort, so four men traveled south to present-day Seaside (pop. 5,900), where they boiled kettles of saltwater on massive wood-burning ovens. As the water steamed out, salt was scraped from the bottom and sides. This process yielded four bushels of “fine, strong, and white” salt, as described by Lewis.
A replica of those wood ovens now stands near the Salt Works display, a block off the beach in Seaside, 20 miles south of the memorial on Highway 101.
Today, tourists come to explore the north Oregon coast and step back into the ancient tracks of Lewis and Clark. They watch the freight ships along the Columbia River near Astoria (pop. 9,813), just miles north of the fort, and they meander Seaside’s promenade, visit the gift shops along the main streets of the coastal towns, and walk the beaches that Lewis and Clark struggled for more than a year to reach on their westward journey.
And they come to revel in the storms that those early visitors loathed.
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