We made it to Idaho and the camp location along the Clearwater River where the Nez Perce taught the men of the expedition a better and easier way to make canoes. The place where the Corps stayed and made their canoes is just west of where we’re staying so going there was a fun afternoon adventure. We stayed at a campground in Orofino right on the river where we saw that the water really is clear. After leaving this area, we saw where the Clearwater River joined the Snake River and then were the Snake River joined the Columbia River as it flows to the Pacific Ocean.
This post takes us from the saddle to the paddle. On the right of the following map is Travelers’ Rest where the expedition left on September 9, then over the Bitterroot Mountains to where they met the Nez Perce in Weippe Prairie. On September 25 they came to Canoe Camp (this post), where they leave their horses and some of their supplies and get back on the water. On October 10, the Clearwater River enters the Snake River, and on October 16, the Snake River enters the Columbia River. On October 23, they made The Dalles (next post) where they rested and recouped for a few days before start going over the Cascades.
Orofina as we saw it
Canoe Camp
Travel through the rugged Clearwater River region has not always been on smooth, paved highways. Travel routes on land began as game trails, then foot paths, which grew into horse paths. Many of these historic routes paid scant attention to the topography—they sought to avoid thick vegetative growth and hazardous slopes.
Except in the broader valleys, routes along the rivers were impractical until modern road-building techniques were developed. Water travel was frequently used. Native Americans constructed rafts of timbers and canoes from burnt-out logs to navigate up and down the Clearwater and Snake Rivers.
The Nez Perce followed many trails. The availability of food influenced their semi-nomadic lifestyle. From winter camps along the Clearwater River, the people climbed to the rich camas-gathering fields of the Weippe and Camas Prairies. With the return of the salmon, the Nez Perce would likewise return to the river. One of the popular fishing spots was near the mouth of the North Fork, 4 miles downstream from here.
After struggling over the Lolo trail and meeting the Nez Perce in the gentle prairie near Weippe, the expedition took to water near present-day Orofino.
On the expedition’s return trek in the spring of 1806, they found it easier to follow overland trails rather than fight against the river and so went south of here to Long Camp at Kamiah.
September 30 – October 5, 1805. “After moving a few miles downstream on the river, the Clearwater, the explorers established a camp and commenced building dugout canoes. When they were finished, they set off. Finally, after all these many months, they had a favorable current. They left their horses in the care of the Nez Perce, who agreed to take care of them until their return.” And the horses and supplies were waiting for them when they returned.
On October 5, 1805, Clark wrote, “Finished and launched two of our canoes this evening which proved to be very good.”
These grounds have been inhabited for thousands of years by the Nez Perce people, but are best known as the place where the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery worked with the Nez Perce to build the canoes that took them to the Pacific Ocean in 1805.
pit house village
Low mounds and depressions in the ground here [hard for us to see in the pictures] give only the faintest impression of the villages that stood on both banks of the river. These are the remains of pit houses, built 1500 to 2000 years ago. Imagine the scene then: people spearing fish, women drying salmon on wooden racks, and hunters returning with fresh game.
Winters in the canyon were relatively mild, and the vegetation attracted elk, deer, black bear, and grouse. At the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Nez Perce were living in lodges made from hides or tule mats. The expedition saw the remains of abandoned pit houses.
Corps arrived
When the Corps got to the Nez Perce country, they were starving. At their first meal with them on the Weippe Prairie, they ate so much camas and dried salmon that they were sick for days. Even in their weakened state and slowed by hot weather, they still managed to build 5 canoes in 12 days.
Here are some of Clark’s excerpts from his journals during this time.
Guided by Chief Twisted Hair and several other Nez Perce, Capt. Clark selected this as a campsite because of the many large ponderosa pines that grew here then.
The canoe makers chopped out small portions of the pine logs, then used fire or hot coals to char the wood.
After traveling 3000 miles upstream on the Missouri River, going downstream was a delightful prospect. But it wasn’t going to be easy. They immediately learned to keep their canoes in the current, off the rocks, and out of danger.
On October 7, the first day on the Clearwater wasn’t bad, but Private Whitehouse noted that “our canoes took in a great deal of water” from the waves.
On October 8, Sergeant Patrick Gass’s boat hit one rock, and then another, dumping men into the water and soaking their baggage. With the help of the Nez Perce, they got everyone safely to shore.
The next day was spent drying out at a camp a little farther west. With the big water of the Snake and Columbia rivers ahead, they had good reason to hone their paddling skills.
hospitality
The men, women, and children belonging to this village appeared very glad to see us. They ran out to meet us & seemed rejoiced at our coming.
The steamed camas bulbs were “made into a kind of bread” which Sergeant Patrick Gass described as “good and nourishing, and tastes like that sometimes made of pumpkins.”
During the rest of their journey among the Nez Perce, the explorers bought fish and roots with their dwindling supply of trade goods.
As the Corps left for their journey to the Pacific, they cached their saddles and gear and left their horses here in the care of the Nez Perce until their return in the spring.
The Corps departed after 16 days, having made 5 canoes—4 large ones were about 50-55 feet long and could carry a minimum of seven men and 800-1000 pounds of gear, and 1 small one to accommodate the 34 members of the expedition [doesn’t seem too small to me].
Canoe Camp was an important turning point. Here the expedition made the transition from arduous-overland travel to travel by water—onward toward the Pacific.
Clark then wrote, “We load and set out, after fixing all our poles. The afternoon cloudy. Proceed on, passing many bad rapids. One canoe, that in which I went in front, sprung a leak in passing the third rapid.”
The next few pictures are from our familiar Great Falls Interpretive Center, but they add so much to what we’re learning.
Along the Clearwater River, their Shoshone guides, Old Toby and his son, left without a word of explanation. Perhaps with Nez Perce chiefs to accompany the expedition downstream, they felt their mission was complete. Clark wanted to pay Toby for his services, but the Nez Perce chiefs advised against it saying it would only be stolen from them.
Undaunted Courage gives us another view of Old Toby and his son leaving, “Old Toby was so frightened by the running of the rapids that he took off that night, without waiting for his pay. He was last seen running eastward along the riverbanks.”
Before launching into the swift-moving Clearwater, they branded their horses and asked the Nez Perce to pasture them until the following spring. [Branding their horses was smart so they could get them when they returned.] In two days they reached the Snake River. Six more days took them to the Columbia, a goal reached after 17 months and, by their reckoning, 3174 miles.
The dugouts swamped and sprang leaks. One split against a rock, but the party made between 20 and 60 miles a day.
the Snake River
October 6 – 10, 1805. “At first the riverbanks along the explorers’ route were covered with tall pines, but as the party went farther downstream the timber thinned, until there was virtually none at all by the time they reached the Clearwater’s confluence with the Snake River. Clark described the rivers: ‘The water of the south fork [Snake] is a greenish blue, the north [Clearwater] as clear as crystal.'”
The expedition had its first and completely unexpected encounter with the semi-arid plain of the Columbia, now known as the Columbia Plateau. Clark wrote, “not one Stick of timber on the river.”
Our view of the confluence of the Snake River and the Clearwater River looks so calm, but in Lewis and Clark’s day, the Snake River was anything but calm. As I’m writing this, we’re at the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, and at a ranger talk last night she mentioned that the Snake River is the largest tributary of the Columbia River that flows into the Pacific Ocean. As we were driving through Idaho to get here, we kept crossing over the Snake River, so we were realizing it was longer than we had thought. This perspective gave us a whole new look at this river and the power it must have had when the Clearwater joined it, and I wanted to know more about this river.
From Wikipedia, “The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About 1,080 miles long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Beginning in Yellowstone National Park, western Wyoming, it flows across the arid Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, the rugged Hells Canyon on the borders of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and finally the rolling Palouse Hills of southeast Washington.”
The Snake River weaves around this area for 1080 miles, the Mississippi River flows almost straight south for 2340 miles, and the Missouri River winds around the land for 2341 miles.
When the expedition was on the Snake River, they were welcomed by many people of the Plateau.
From Undaunted Courage, “On October 10 . . . the men camped that night near the site of present Lewiston, Idaho. The men bought dogs and dried fish from local Indians.” The men liked the flesh of dogs, but Clark didn’t so finally was able to shoot a Blue wing Teel. [Per Wikipedia, “a species of bird in the duck, goose, and swan family.”]
“Along the way, the expedition passed innumerable Indian villages. The natives were members of the extended Nez Perce nation, by far the largest and most powerful of the tribes of the Pacific Northwest.”
“The Indians were hospitable, partly because Twisted Hair and another Nez Perce chief . . . went ahead of the party to reassure their relatives that the white men were friendly, partly because—in Clark’s words—‘the wife of Shabono our interpetr we find reconsiles all the Indians, to our friendly intentions. a woman with a party of men is a token of peace.'”
October 11 – 15, 1805. “The expedition was now well into the lava lands formed by ancient volcanoes, as arid as the high plains they had traversed earlier in the year. The Snake River coursed through wide canyons formed by low bluffs, some with volcanic rock exposed, others entirely grass-covered. Rapids, projecting rocks, and windy weather hampered navigation.”
On October 11, 1805, Clark wrote, “Here the country ascends . . . to the high plains and the river is 400 yards wide.”
On October 13, 1805, Clark wrote, “Sunday [a] little river in a . . . bend.”
Food was plentiful, as the river teemed with salmon. They ate so much fish, however, that they longed for something different to eat. On October 14, 1805, Clark deemed it important enough to note: “For the first time for three weeks past I had a good dinner of blue-wing teal.” All along the river they encountered friendly Flathead and Nez Prce Indians, whose primary occupation was fishing.
The expedition descended the Clearwater and the Snake Rivers, racing through the arid treeless plateau of the upper Columbia system.
Our highway took us on another route so we didn’t get to see exactly what the expedition saw. But here’s what we saw.
Back to the expedition’s excitement on the rivers.
the Snake River joins the Columbia River
October 16 – 18, 1805. When the expedition reached the confluence of the Snake and the Columbia Rivers, it was rather anticlimactic. After all, many weeks before and hundreds of miles back they had tasted the Columbia’s waters [at Lemhi Pass], and now, having left the canyons of the Snake, the landscape was unremarkable.” We also thought this confluence was rather anticlimactic.
On October 15, 1805, Clark wrote, “In every direction from the junction of those rivers the country is one continued plain.”
When the men camped here, they wrote in their journals how amazed they were of the uncountable number of salmon. At that time, an estimated 16 million salmon filled these waters every year in a journey of 325 miles from the Pacific Ocean.
Today, salmon swimming upriver to native spawning sites must navigate four dams before reaching the confluence. Although greatly reduced in number, the salmon still return each year.
From Undaunted Courage, “. . . the party reached the junction with the Columbia, the first white men to be on the river east of the Cascades. . . . The water was so clear that, no matter how deep the river, the bottom was plainly visible.”
“The nearness of the trading emporium at the mouth of the Columbia was apparent from items possessed by the natives, including scarlet-and-blue cloth, blankets and a sailor’s jacket. On October 19, Clark climbed a cliff and saw a snow-covered mountain which he deduced ‘must be one of the mountains laid down by Vancouver, as Seen from the mouth of the Columbia River.’ He thought it was Mount St. Helens; actually it was Mount Adams. But his essential point was right. Lewis’s and Clark’s sightings of the Cascades made the first connection, the first transcontinental linking, of what would become the United States.”
Columbia from here on
From here, the Lewis and Clark expedition followed the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. For those who had lived along its banks, its name was “big river.” For Lewis and Clark, the big river’s many rapids and falls would present some of the final challenges on their descent to the ocean. This section of the river now flows gently between basalt cliffs in the Columbia River Gorge. [What a difference the dams make along the Columbia.]
From Undaunted Courage, “Lewis had long realized that the Columbia had to have many rapids and some major falls on it as it descended from the Rockies to the Pacific. On October 23, the expedition came to the beginning of a spectacular but dangerous stretch of the river that extended some fifty-five miles. It contained four major barriers (all inundated today by dam reservoirs), beginning with the Celilo, or Great Falls. In one short stretch of violent, roaring cataracts, the river dropped thirty-eight feet through several narrow channels between cliffs as high as three thousand feet.” [emphasis mine]
After separating to scout out the falls and configuring, “the captains decided that only the twenty-foot drop had to be portaged. They were able to hire local Indians and their horses to help portage the heavier articles. At other places, they managed to lower the canoes through the rapids, using strong ropes of elk, skin, while packing the baggage on a portage.” [They were so inventive.]
“Indians gathered on the riverbanks to watch the white men. Their presence was often a blessing. They had dogs and dried fish to sell, they provided information on the state of the river downstream, and they had a technology that the captains could use. Lewis visited a village where he had observed his first Chinookan canoe, made of pine, remarkably light, wide in the middle and tapering at each end, with crosspieces at the gunnels that made the craft surprisingly strong, and skillfully carved animal figures on the bow. Clark wrote that ‘these Canoes are neeter made than any I have ever Seen and Calculateed to ride the waves, and carry emence burthens.’ Lewis was able to exchange the expedition’s smallest canoe for one of the Indian craft, after he agreed to throw in a hatched and a few trinkets.”
“As the expedition prepared to make its way through the falls downstream, the captains learned that they would be passing into the country of a people with a different culture and language from any they had previously encountered. They were Chinookan, and the Nez Perce were at war with the Chinooks. On the night of October 23, Twisted Hair said he had heard from his relatives among the local Indians that the Chinookan people living farther down the river intended to kill the Americans when they arrived. The captains examined the rifles and made certain every man had a hundred rounds of ammunition, but that was a daily routine anyway.”
“The following day, Twisted Hair . . . said they had decided to return home. They explained that the Chinooks would surely kill them if they had a chance; besides, they could not speak the language, so they could no longer serve as interpreters.”
The next set of falls was called The Dalles, and that will be our next post since we were actually there and saw the “fort” where the expedition camped.
The Columbia had begun its journey 875 miles upstream and will travel another 325 miles before reaching the ocean.
In the fall of 1805, the expedition raced against time, hoping to reach the Pacific Ocean before winter set in.
more about the Columbia river
Clark wished that the party could have portaged around more of the treacherous rapids, but he knew “the Season was so far advanced and time precious with us.”
Reaching this place where the Snake and Columbia rivers meet was an important milestone in the journey.
Today, tribes of this region still hold ceremonies here in honor of this special place where the rivers join.
On October 16, 1805, Patrick Gass wrote, “We camped on the point between the two rivers. The country all around is level, rich and beautiful, but without timber.”
He wrote, “Measured the width of the Columbia River, from the Point across. . . . Distance across the Columbia 960 3/4 yds water. Distance across the Snake 575 yds water.
Upon their arrival at the Snake-Columbia confluence, native people gathered to warmly welcome the explores. Clark wrote, “a Chief came from their Camp . . . at the head of about 200 men Singing and beeting on their drums . . . keeping time to the musik, they formed a half circle around us and Sung for Some time.”
return trip
On the advice of the Walla Walla people, the expedition took a different trip home. They followed “a good road . . . plenty of Deer and Antilope” that led travelers overland between the confluences of the Columbia/Walla Walla rivers and the Snake/Clearwater rivers.
Now that we’re on the Columbia River, we’ll see some of what Lewis and Clark saw and then learn about the trading practices that happened at The Dalles along the Columbia (in Oregon). Then they’ll see a snow-covered peak in the distance (Mount Hood we think), and the Columbia Gorge. We saw them too.
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