A mythology of “primitive” canoes, heavy and crude, and of primitive canoeing, has gradually taken hold in Lewis and Clark scholarship, and is here revised. This essay examines their canoeing as well as their canoes.
No one had tested modern replicas in demanding conditions: upstream ferries and eddy seam crossings in high water—canoeing techniques the Lewis and Clark party probably used many times a day. How were these dugouts shaped? How did they behave in river conditions?
Altogether, the men carved 15 dugout canoes. At Fort Mandan they hewed 6 from cottonwood logs. West of the Rockies they used ponderosa pine logs to craft five new canoes. On the Yellowstone, Clark made two small dugouts a few miles above today’s Billings.
A glossary of boating terms
by William W. BevisA glossary of boating terms useful in understanding the design, building, and paddling of dugout canoes are here defined.
A compendium of canoes in the journals
by William W. Bevis
The author lists every incident in all the journals, yielding information about the expedition’s boats and boating, especially concerning the canoes.
Chapter 3
by William W. Bevis
Based on historic designs, handling, and cargo capacity, the author proposes a dugout with round sides and a squared-off bottom. However, finding a tree 36″ in diameter and clean of major limbs for 33′ upwards, was probably not that easy.
Chapter 2
by William W. Bevis
The task was to haul supplies upstream. Lewis wanted light boats, and he, Clark and Gass would also have wanted efficient boats. This author expects that by the time the Lewis and Clark party got to the Snake, there was nothing primitive about either their canoes or their canoeing.
Third gap
by Joseph A. Mussulman
On the first of August 1805, Clark and the expedition’s flotilla of eight dugout canoes pushed up the Jefferson River through “a verrey high mountain which jutted its tremendious Clifts on either Side for 9 Miles, the rocks ragide.”
Fort Mandan to the Marias River
by Harry W. Fritz
Near the mouth of the Knife, in late October 1804, the expedition settled down for the winter. After the river ice broke up, the keelboat left for St. Louis and six new dugout canoes headed the opposite direction, up the Missouri river.
Under cloudy skies on the morning of 31 May 1805, the expedition “proceeded at an early hour,” and roped their flotilla of six cottonwood dugout canoes and two big pirogues into one of the most famous riverscapes on the Missouri.
Chapter 8
by William W. Bevis
William Bevis summarizes his eight-part series on the design of the dugout canoes built by the expedition.
Chapter 1
by William W. Bevis
Most of the “replica” Lewis and Clark dugout canoes used by re-enactors and sitting in parks or museums are roughly carved, crudely shaped, and weigh from 800 to 3,000 pounds. Actual nineteenth century dugouts can be smoothly finished, finely shaped, and weigh under 200 pounds.
Clearwater and Snake rivers
Tired and physically sick, the travelers recover and those who can, work to build five dugout canoes at camp on the Clearwater River. With no time for portages and despite the help of two Nez Perce river guides, several canoe accidents happen while negotiating rapids on the Clearwater and lower Snake.
Today's Potlatch River
by Joseph A. Mussulman
At 3 p.m. on 7 October 1805, the Corps loaded their five new dugout canoes–four large ones plus a small one “to look ahead”–and set out down the Clearwater River toward the Columbia and the Pacific beyond.
The fourth mountain gate
by Joseph A. Mussulman, Robert N. Bergantino
On 1 August 1805, Clark and the expedition’s flotilla of eight dugout canoes pushed up the Jefferson River through “a verrey high mountain which jutted its tremendious Clifts on either Side for 9 Miles, the rocks ragide.” They emerged into a “wide exte[n]sive vallie.”
Feasting on buffalo
Lewis nears the Great Falls of the Missouri feasting on buffalo, the first since 16 July 1805. At Fortunate Camp, Clark’s group prepares the dugout canoes, and Sgt. Ordway arrives with the stray horses.
Seaman stolen
On this wet spring day at the Cascades of the Columbia, the men tow four dugout canoes through the “big Shoote.” Hostilities ensue when a few local Indians start stealing things—even Lewis’s dog Seaman.
High winds, poor hunting
At present Shepperds Dell, Oregon, wind-driven waves fill the dugout canoes with water. Lewis takes a nature walk and sees salmonberry blossoms. Late in the night, thief is caught sneaking into camp.
Deer hunting
The main group joins the hunters who are on Deer Island in present Oregon. They spend the day hunting or repairing leaky dugout canoes. Lewis describes the red-sided garter snake and ring-necked duck.
Wet as water can be
Grays Bay, WA High tides flood camp and waves throw huge logs at the dugout canoes. That and the heavy rain makes “every man as wet as water could make them.”
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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).