After a night made sleepless by noisy waterfowl, the expedition heads down the Columbia. They pass the large village known today as Cathlapotle and encounter various Chinookan People before camping near present Prescott, Oregon.
In eastern Colorado, Pedro Vial’s Spanish military force—intent on stopping the Lewis and Clark Expedition—is disrupted by a Pawnee attack.
Chinookan Traders on the Columbia
10″ x 20″ oil on board
© 2009 by Charles Fritz. Used by permission.
Sleepless Night
a Cloudy morning Som rain the after part of last night & this morning. I could not Sleep for the noise kept by the Swans, Geese, white & black brant, Ducks &c. on a opposit base, & Sand hill Crane, they were emensely numerous and their noise horrid.
—William Clark
Cathlapotle Village
passed a verry large village at the foot of an Island on the Stard. Side they have a number of canoes Some of the [Multnomah] Savages came out in the River in their canoes to See us they wanted to trade with us for muskets offered us dressed Elk Skins.
—John Ordway
Lower Chinooks
We met 4 Canoes of [Chinookan-speaking] Indians from below, in which there is 26 Indians, one of those Canoes is large, and ornimented with Images on the bow & Stern. That in the Bow the likeness of a Bear, and in Stern the picture of a man—
—William Clark
Weather Diary
Day of the month Wind State of the Weather 5th S W. rain, cloudy, rain Commenced raining at 2 P. M. and continued to rain with intervales throughout the day. Saw 14 Garter Snakes
—Meriwether Lewis[1]Some abbreviations have been spelled out.
Spanish Force Attacked
Having left Santa Fe on 14 October 1805, Pedro Vial and José Jarvet and their company—following orders to arrest the Lewis and Clark Expedition—are attacked, likely by Loup Pawnees, and must abandon their pursuit.
About midnight they attacked us in three bands, one the horses, and two the encampment. . . . after having pillaged the encampment, they gathered to take horses to make their escape, but both our men citizens and carbineers and the Frenchmen proved themselves to be courageous, and recovered them . . . . Finding ourselves devoid of munitions for our defense, we all decided to return to Santa Fe.
—Pedro Vial[2]Guerra y Marina, leg. 1787–1807, exp. 15 (Library of Congress copy) in Noel M. Loomis and Abraham P. Nasatir, Pedro Vial and the Roads to Sante Fe (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967), … Continue reading
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. In addition to wildlife viewing, the Cathlapotle plankhouse re-construction is also located here.
Notes
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).