Lewis and Clark by Ralph K. Andrist

Author:Ralph K. Andrist [Andrist, Ralph K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 19th Century, History, Nonfiction, Retail, United States
ISBN: 9781612308845
Google: wwrvCQAAQBAJ
Amazon: B0100AXCHC
Publisher: New Word City
Published: 2015-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

Although they had nearly reached the Pacific, the captains and their men were far from the end of their troubles. They were still miles from the mouth of the Columbia, but the river was now so wide – some half a dozen miles - that the heaving and rolling ocean reached into the estuary, making the canoes bob like corks, and the men seasick.

On November 8, the day after Clark mistakenly reported seeing the ocean, the expedition paddled another eight miles downriver but was finally forced ashore on the north bank of the estuary. They found little refuge there; the hills were so steep, they could not leave the beach, and the water was too salty to drink. To add to their misery, the rain that had been falling for days continued all night.

The next day was worse. It continued to rain, and a brisk southerly wind sent waves directly into the mouth of the estuary. Not only was their camping place flooded, but the high tide and waves brought churning driftwood - dead trees as much as 200 feet long and seven feet thick - into the Columbia, nearly crushing their canoes. Clark’s optimism was already fading; “at this dismal point, we must spend another night” he wrote, “as the wind and waves are too high to proceed.”

The third day, they moved a short distance and camped in a gully, where the drifted logs had jammed into a solid pile just above water level. “The logs on which we lie is all on flote every high tide,” Clark wrote miserably. All they had to eat was dried pounded fish they had bought from the Indians at the Great Falls. Private Joseph Field went out to hunt for his famished comrades, but the hills were so steep and the undergrowth so dense that he could do nothing. The continuing downpour loosened stones on the steep hillsides that rolled down on the unhappy party.

On the fifth morning, lightning, thunder, hail, and violent rain encouraged the expedition to take advantage of a low tide to move half a mile to a small brook where they were slightly better protected. Captain Clark’s enthusiasm was completely sapped. “It would be distressing to a feeling person to see our situation at this time,” he wrote, “all wet and cold with our betting etc. also wet, in a cove scarcely enough to contain us, our Baggage in a small holler about 1/2 mile from us, and the canoes at the mercey of the waves & drift wood. . . . Our Situation is dangerous.”

The next day, November 13, Captain Clark climbed the steep heights behind them to scout for a better location, but when he reached the top, he could see nothing because of the heavy clouds. On his return, he sent scouts John Colter, Alexander Willard, and George Shannon downriver in a canoe to look for a safer campsite because the waves were again sending driftwood surging dangerously near their present spot.

The next morning, five Indians in a canoe managed to land despite the rain and high waves.

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