At Fort Clatsop, the captains give Coboway a certificate for his good conduct and describe Chinookan lifeways including manner of dress, decorations, and how they flatten their foreheads.
Tag: Coboway
March 7, 1806
At Fort Clatsop near the Pacific Ocean, Lewis describes aquatic birds: four seagulls, black cormorant, Arctic loon, and western grebe. Pvt. Bratton’s back pain worsens, and the hunters take one elk.
March 6, 1806
Coboway and two sons bring cooked eulachon to Fort Clatsop which the captains find excellent. Detachments are sent out to hunt and fish, several men are sick, and Lewis lists aquatic birds of the area.
February 25, 1806
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At Fort Clatsop near Astoria, Oregon, there is little movement today other than violent winds and rain. Lewis describes Richardson’s ground squirrels and western gray squirrels—the latter new to science.
February 24, 1806
At Fort Clatsop near the Pacific Ocean, Clatsop traders arrive with fresh eulachon enabling Lewis to draw, describe, and taste this small fish. Hunters report that the elk have vacated the neighborhood.
January 17, 1806
At Fort Clatsop near present Astoria, Oregon, Lewis describes Chinookan eating utensils, woven baskets, and hats. A Clatsop man refuses to trade his otter skin robe for anything other than blue beads.
January 4, 1806
Sgt. Gass and Pvt. Shannon travel through the marshes and dunes of the Clatsop Plain on their way to the salt makers’ camp. At Fort Clatsop, Lewis describes Clatsop views on material goods.
January 3, 1806
Clatsop villagers come to Fort Clatsop to sell whale blubber and dogs. Lewis finds the latter “an agreeable food”. Two men are sent to fetch long-overdue Pvts. Willard and Weiser from the salt works.
December 29, 1805
Clark gives visiting Wahkiakum traders a small peace medal and ties a red ribbon to a cone hat; Clatsop chief Coboway is given a razor. Clark also lists the day’s work details and sick men.
December 27, 1805
At Fort Clatsop, the enlisted men are hunting, setting up a salt works, building chimneys, or making pickets and gates. Coboway brings roots and receives a sheepskin headband and earrings in return.
December 12, 1805
Two canoes of Clatsops come to the construction site to trade wapato and a sea otter skin. The captains give a medal to Chief Coboway, and Clark describes the Clatsop’s desire for blue beads.
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).