At Fort Clatsop near present Astoria, Oregon, the morning is clear and cold. The enlisted men spend the day gathering firewood and making leather. Boiled elk is again on the menu, and Lewis describes Native uses for bearberry (kinnikinnick) berries.
In Washington City, New York Senator Samuel Latham Mitchell sees new maps of the west drawn by French explorers and visiting Native Americans.
Scraping a Hide
Fort Clatsop National Historic Park
© 2017 by John Montigue. Used by permission.
Fort Clatsop Tasks
It froze very hard during last night, & this morning was clear cold weather, Some of the Men in the fort were employed cutting wood for our fires, and others in making Cloathes for our party.
—Meriwether Lewis
Keen Appetites, Lean Elk
Nothing worthy of notice occurred today. our fare is the flesh of lean elk boiled with pure water, and a little salt. the whale blubber which we have used very sparingly is now exhausted. on this food I do not feel strong, but enjoy the most perfect health;— a keen appetite supplys in a great degree the want of more luxurious sauses or dishes, and still render my ordinary meals not uninteresting to me, for I find myself sometimes enquiring of the cook whether dinner or breakfast is ready.—
—Meriwether Lewis
Bearberry (kinnikinnick)
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
© 2007 by Walter Siegmund. Permission granted via the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Insipid Bearberry Berries
the natives on this side of the Rockey mountains who can procure this berry invariably use it; to me it is a very tasteless and insippid fruit . . . . the colour of this fruit is a fine scarlet. the natives usually eat them without any preperation. the fruit ripens in september and remains on the bushes all winter. the frost appears to take no effect on it. these berries are sometimes geathered and hung in their lodges in bags where they dry without further trouble, for in their most succulent state they appear to be almost as dry as flour.—
—Meriwether Lewis
New Western Maps
In Washington City, New York Senator Samuel Latham Mitchill writes to his wife to tell her of new maps of the west—some from French explorers and others drawn by visiting Native Americans.
Washington, Jany. 29. 1806
I have for several evenings been engaged in translating some french Manuscripts containing interesting intelligence from the upper Country lying towards the head of the River Missouri. And I am getting a MSS map of some part of those Regions, copied. I set the Indians at work the other Evening with Chalk to make me a delineation of their Country, on the floor. And I am exceedingly pleased with the correspondence there is between their rude marks, and the fine strokes of a Surveyor. Yours tenderly & truly Sam L Mitchill[1]Samuel L. Mitchill to Catharine Mitchill, Samuel Latham Mitchill Papers, 1801-1829, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan Library Digital Collections, … Continue reading
Weather Diary
aspect of the weather at rise
Wind at Weather at 4 OC. P.M. Wind at 4 OC. P.M. fair N E fair N E not so could, water in a vessel exposed to the [air] during the night freized 3/8ths of an inch only.
—Meriwether Lewis[2]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the month” column and spelled out some abbreviations.
Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Plan a trip related to January 29, 1806:
Fort Clatsop is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site is managed by the Lewis and Clark National and State Historic Parks.
Notes
| ↑1 | Samuel L. Mitchill to Catharine Mitchill, Samuel Latham Mitchill Papers, 1801-1829, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan Library Digital Collections, quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mitchill/, accessed 23 November 2025. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the month” column and spelled out some abbreviations. |
