After receiving Kathlamet visitors, the expedition paddles to present Tongue Point near Astoria, Oregon. Unable to continue due to high winds and waves, they are forced to take shelter on the narrow isthmus. Everyone is wet and disagreeable.
Lewis and Clark National Wildlife Refuge
Brubaker Aerial Survey, 6 May 1929 NARA Pacific Alaska Region (Seattle), RG77, Portland District.
Above: In the distance, Tongue Point juts out into river where the expedition encamped near the low spot in the middle. During high water, early travelers could portage their canoes across this low area.
Rounding Tongue Point
© 2019 by Robert Heacock. Used by permission.
Morning Visitors
at day light 3 Canoes and 11 Indians Came from the [Kathlamet] Village with roots mats, Skins &c. to Sell, they asked Such high prices that we were unable to purchase any thing of them, as we were about to Set out missed one of our axes which was found under an Indians roab I smamed [Nicholas Biddle: Shamed] this fellow verry much and told them they should not proceed with us—
—William Clark
Rounding Tongue Point
we proceded on between maney Small Islands passing a Small river of [blank] yds wide which the Indians Call—[Nicholas Biddle: Kekemar〈qu〉ke] and around a verry remarkable point which projects about 1½ Miles directly towards the Shallow bay the isthmus which joins it to the main land is not exceding 50 yards and about 4 Miles around. we call this Point William.
—William Clark
Sheltering at Tongue Point
below this point the waves became So high we were Compelled to land unload and traw up the Canoes, here we formed a Camp on the neck of Land which joins Point William to the main at an old indian hut.
—William Clark
Disagreeable Weather
Continued hard all day we are all Wet and disagreeable. one Canoe Split before we Got her out of the Water 2 feet— The water at our Camp Salt that above the isthmus fresh and fine—
—William Clark
Weather Diary
Day of the month Wind State of the Weather 27th S W rain violent wind and hard rain all day. Campd. at Pt. William
—Meriwether Lewis[1]Some abbreviations have been spelled out.
Tongue Point is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site can be viewed from the east at the Lewis and Clark National Wildlife Refuge and to the west along the Astoria Riverwalk.
Notes
| ↑1 | Some abbreviations have been spelled out. |
|---|
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.
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.
This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
- The Capital Gallery (Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation)
- Yellowstone Public Radio
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).