While paddling up the Columbia, the 33 members see many horses but are unsuccessful in trading for any. They encamp at Fort Rock at present The Dalles, Oregon where they stayed several days the previous fall. Lewis prepares four plant specimens.
Well-fed Horses
Saw a number of horses feeding in it which are in good order as they have been wintered below in the narrow bottoms where the rushes abound &C.
—John Ordway
Spring Feeding
Celilo Falls, 25 March 2012. © by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
A horse grazes on new spring grass on a bench above the Columbia River near The Dalles, Oregon.
No New Horses
a little below the entrance of Cataract river we halted at another village of the same people [Wascos and Wishrams], at which we were equally unsuccessfull in the purchase of horses. we also halted at the two villages of the Chilluckittequaws a few miles above with no better success.
—Meriwether Lewis
Sepulcher Rock
Capt. Lewis & Clark went on a small high Island to see a large burying ground they Saw Seven large Sepulchers made of wood in a Square form and by appearence is nearly a hundred persons piled in one on another with their robes Sowed round them, and all their heads down the River.
—John Ordway
Fort Rock Return
at 3 in the evening we arivied at the enterance of Quinnett Creek which we assended a Short distance and Encamped at the place we had Called rock fort Camp [Fort Rock]. here we were visited by Some of the people from the Villages at the long Narrows & Falls. we informed them of our wish to purchase horses
—William Clark
Long-tailed Deer
after we landed and formed our camp this evening Drewyer and some others took a hunt and killed a deer of the longtailed kind. it was a buck and the young horns had shot fourth about 2 inches.
Meriwether Lewis
Serviceberry Bud
Amelanchier alnifolia
Location: The Dalles, Oregon. © 26 March 2012 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Serviceberry Specimen
Service berry A Small bush the Narrows of Columbia R. Aprl. 15th 1806
—Meriwether Lewis[1]Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 6.
Biscuit Root
Lomatium macrocarpum
Specimen collected with private land-owner permission. Photo © 31 May 2011 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Bare-stemmed Desert-parsley Specimen
Supposed to be a Smyrnium the natives eat the tops & boil it Sometimes with their Soup. On the Columbia Aprl. 15th 1806
—Meriwether Lewis[2]Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 96.
Biscuitroot Specimen
An umbelliferous plant with a large fusiform foot, which the natives bake & eat One the Columbia. Aprl. 15th 1806.
—Meriwether Lewis[3]Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 99.
Thimbleberry
Rubus parviflorus
Photo by W. Padgett of the U.S. Forest Service.
Thimbleberry Specimen
A Shrub of which the natives eat the young Sprout without kooking. On the Columbia Aprl. 15th 1806.
—Meriwether Lewis[4]Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 154.
Weather Diary
State of weather at rise
Wind at State of the weather at 4 P.M. Wind at 4 P.M. River fair W fair W wind blew tolerably hard today after 10 A. M. observed the Curloo and prarie lark.
—Meriwether Lewis[5]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented, the “State of the Columbia River” columns have been merged, and some abbreviations have been spelled out.
Rock Fort Campsite is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site owned by Wasco County, Oregon, and is open to the public.
Notes
| ↑1 | Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 6. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 96. |
| ↑3 | Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 99. |
| ↑4 | Moulton, ed. Herbarium, specimen 154. |
| ↑5 | To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented, the “State of the Columbia River” columns have been merged, and some abbreviations have been spelled out. |
Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
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Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
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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).