Fort Clatsop and Necanicum Village, OR Clark’s party crosses Tillamook Head and returns to the salt works with whale oil and blubber. At Fort Clatsop, Lewis describes canoe burials and the language of the Chinookan Peoples.
Monster on the Beach[1]Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © … Continue reading
Leaving the Whale
we have now to look back and Shudder at the dreadfull road on which we have to return of 45 miles S E of Point adams & 35 miles from Fort Clatsop. I had the blubber & oil divided among’ the party and Set out about Sunrise and returned by the Same rout we had went out, met Several parties of men & womin of the Chinnook and Clatsops nations, on their way to trade with the Kil a mox for blubber and oil
—William Clark
Astonishing Women Packers
one of the women in the act of getting down a Steep part of the mountain her load by Some means had Sliped off her back . . . . I endeavored to relieve this woman by takeing her load untill She Could get to a better place a little below, & to my estonishment found the load as much as I Could lift and must exceed 100 wt.
—William Clark
Canoe Burial
T. Sinclair & Son lithographer; from Henry Crécy Yarrow, “A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians,” figure 29.
Chinookan Canoe Burials
The Clatsops Chinnooks [Chinooks] &c. bury their dead in their canoes. . . . on the cross bars which support the canoes is frequently hung or laid various articles of cloathing culinary eutensels &c. I cannot understand them sufficiently to make any enquiries relitive to their religious opinions, but presume from their depositing various articles with their dead, that they believe in a state of future existence.
—Meriwether Lewis
Yarrow’s Observations
Regarding mourning practices accompanying canoe burials, Henry Crécy Yarrow (see figure), writes the following:
[T]hey begin to mourn, especially the women, as soon as a person dies. Their mourning song consists principally of the sounds represented by the three English notes mi mi, do do, la la; those who attend the funeral are expected to bring some articles to place in the coffin or about the grave as a token of respect for the dead. . . . The belief exists that as the body decays spirits carry it away particle by particle to the spirit of the deceased in the spirit land, and also as these articles decay they are also carried away in a similar manner.[2]Henry Crécy Yarrow, “A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians” (Smithsonian Institution—Bureau of American Ethnology, 1881), 176. In … Continue reading
Sewing Clothes
Our men are now very much engaged in dressing Elk and Deer skins for mockersons and cloathing. the deer are extreemly scarce in this neighbourhood, some are to be found near the praries and open grounds along the coast.
—Meriwether Lewis
A Little English
the Indians inform us that they speak the same language with ourselves, and give us proofs of their varacity by repeating many words of English, as musquit, powder, shot, nife, file, damned rascal, sun of a bitch &c.
—Meriwether Lewis
Blue Beads
The natives are extravegantly fond of the most common cheap blue and white beads, of moderate size, or such that from 50 to 70 will weigh one penneyweight. the blue is usually pefered to the white; these beads constitute the principal circulating medium with all the indian tribes on the river; for these beads they will dispose any article they possess.—
—Meriwether Lewis
Weather Diary
aspect of the weather at rise
Wind at Weather at 4 OC. P.M. Wind at 4 OC. P.M. fair S. W. cloudy after fair S. W began to rain at 10 P. M. and continued all night.
—Meriwether Lewis[3]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the month” column and spelled out some abbreviations.
Fort Clatsop is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site is managed by the Lewis and Clark National and State Historic Parks.
Notes
| ↑1 | Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © 2003 by Yellowstone Public Radio. |
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| ↑2 | Henry Crécy Yarrow, “A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians” (Smithsonian Institution—Bureau of American Ethnology, 1881), 176. In the original, the last sentence as quoted here precedes the others. |
| ↑3 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the month” column and spelled out some abbreviations. |
