Day-by-Day / January 29, 1806

January 29, 1806

Making leather

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.

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

 

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

 

Weather Diary

aspect of the weather at sun symbol rise Wind at sun symbol rise 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[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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Plan a trip related to January 29, 1806:

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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.

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.