Day-by-Day / March 18, 1806

March 18, 1806

Stealing a canoe

Fort Clatsop, Astoria, OR After stealing a canoe, soldiers hide it near the fort. The captains write a short description of the expedition with the names of each member, and they distribute copies among the Indians.

Stealing a Canoe

4 men went over to the prarie near the coast to take a canoe which belongd to the Clotsop Indians, as we are in want of it. in the evening they returned 2 of them by land and killd. an Elk. the others took the canoe near the fort and concealed it, as the chief of the Clotsops is now here.
John Ordway

Female Band Departs

this morning we gave Delashelwilt a certificate of his good deportment &c. and also a list of our names, after which we dispatched him to his village with his female band.
Meriwether Lewis

 

List of Names

These lists of our names we have given to several of the natives and also paisted up a copy in our room . . . . on the back of some of these lists we added a sketch of the connection of the upper branches of the Missouri with those of the Columbia, particularly of it’s main S. E. branch, on which we also delineated the track we had come and that we meant to pursue on our return where the same happened to very.
—Meriwether Lewis

Unwell Men

Drewyer was taken last night with a violent pain in his Side. I bled him. Several of the men are complaining of being unwell. it is truly unfortunate that they Should be Sick at the moment of our departure.
William Clark

Bracing and Corking

we directed Sergt. Pryor to prepare the two Canoes which Drewyer brought last evening for his mess. they wanted some knees to strengthen them and several cracks corked and payed. he completed them except the latter operation which the frequent showers in the course of the day prevented as the canoes could not be made sufficiently dry even with the assistance of fire.
—Meriwether Lewis

A Plan to Divide Forces

our party are also too small to think of leaving any of them to return to the U’ States by sea, particularly as we shall be necessarily divided into three or four parties on our return in order to accomplish the objects we have in view;
—Meriwether Lewis

List of Indians

The Indians repeated to us the names of eighteen distinct tribes residing on the S. E. coast who spoke the Killamucks [Tillamook] language, and beyound those six others who spoke a different language which they did not comprehend.
—Meriwether Lewis

 

Weather Diary

Aspect of the weather at sun symbol Rise Wind at sun symbol rise Aspect of weather at 4 O’Ck P. M. Wind at 4 OCk. P. M.
rain after clouds & rain S W rain after fair, rain & hail S. W.

frequent showers through the day
—Meriwether Lewis[1]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the Month” column and spelled out some abbreviations.

 

Notes

Notes
1 To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the Month” column and spelled out some abbreviations.

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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.