The Trail / Down the Columbia

Down the Columbia

Washington and Oregon

In five battered dugout canoes, the expedition paddles down the Columbia River—a river that they know will take them to the Pacific Ocean.

They safely pass a series of rapids and falls between Celilo Falls and the Cascades of the Columbia. In the Columbia River Gorge, they see stunning geologic features.

The river calms, now affected by tides, and they enter one of the most populated areas of their entire journey with numerous villages of Upper and Lower Chinook.

They find the Columbia River Estuary is miles long and miles wide. Everyone must hunker down in small niches several days before they can reach the end of their water journey at Baker Bay.

At Station Camp, the captains survey the party as to where they would like to spend the winter. Everyone’s opinion—including York and Sacagawea—are written down. They decide to cross the river where according to the Clatsops, there are many elk.

They set up a camp on a narrow spit of land on the opposite side—present Tongue Point at Astoria, Oregon. Lewis takes a small party to find a suitable location to build a fort, but when he fails to return after five days, Clark begins to worry.

 

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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.