Robert Heacock

Contributions

• Phoca (Seal) Rock -

  The mid-river island identified as "Phoca" and "Seal rock" on one of William Clark's route maps is a compact landslide block that detached from the Cape Horn headland.

• April 22, 1806 -

  Charbonneau‘s horse bolts causing several items to fall off. They are hidden by watchful Wishram Indians. The march continues by foot, horse, and dugout canoe to a spring near present John Day dam.

• September 18, 1803 -

  The expedition heads out down the Ohio before sunrise. They safely pass a rapid near the present community of Letart Falls, and Lewis writes his last journal entry until 11 November 1803.

• April 27, 1806 -

  The expedition passes the Umatilla River and then climbs to the high plain above the Wallula Gap. Late in the day, they are met by Chief Yelleppit and guided to his village opposite the Walla Walla River.

• November 3, 1805 -

  Moving down the Columbia River above present Portland, Oregon, Clark is unable to cross a river full of quicksand—today's Sandy River. They continue to a large island full of ponds and waterfowl.

• Beacon Rock -

  "a remarkable high detached rock Stands in a bottom on the Stard [starboard, the navigator's right] Side & about 800 feet high and 400 paces around"

• The Clearwater River -

  Clark spent the night of 21 September 1805 at Twisted Hair's camp on an island in the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River. The next morning the chief and his son accompanied him back up to the village on Weippe Prairie where he expected to rendezvous with Lewis.

• April 11, 1806 -

  On this wet spring day at the Cascades of the Columbia, the men tow four dugout canoes through the "big Shoote." Hostilities ensue when a few local Indians start stealing things—even Lewis’s dog Seaman.

• November 25, 1805 -

  Having decided to winter on the Columbia River's southern shore, they leave Station Camp. With Mt. St. Helens in view, they paddle upriver and encamp near Pillar Rock where the river narrows.

• November 23, 1803 -

  After arriving at Cape Girardeau, Lewis takes letters of introduction to Louis Lorimier, whose store was burned to the ground by William Clark's brother—George Rogers Clark—in 1782.

• April 20, 1803 -

  Lancaster, PA Meriwether Lewis finally leaves Harpers Ferry for Lancaster where Andrew Ellicott will train him in celestial navigation. He writes to Thomas Jefferson explaining his delay.

• November 25, 1803 -

  As the expedition approaches the Grand Tower of the Mississippi, Lewis learns of a ritual held the first time a boatman passes it. He also describes the Apple River Shawnees living in that area.

• 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.

• October 20, 1803 -

  In Louisville, two new recruits officially enlist, and the shipyard at Bear Grass Creek is described by fellow traveler Thomas Rodney. In Washington City, the Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase treaty.

• December 7, 1803 -

  Lewis travels by land and Clark by river to arrive at Cahokia, Illinois. Lewis meets John Hay and Nicholas Jarrot who help him negotiate with the Spanish Lt. governor of Upper Louisiana.

• April 6, 1806 -

  The members pack up the last of the dried meat and paddle into the Columbia River Gorge. Lewis remarks on the spring flood, a ‘remarkable’ Beacon Rock, and the blindness common with the local People.

• The Columbia River Gorge -

  The consolidated rocks that compose the Gorge were formed by a complex interplay of Columbia River Basalt Group flood basalt deposition and basin subsidence, along with contemporaneous folding and faulting—not the Glacial Lake Missoula floods.

• May 4, 1806 -

  With help from their 1805 Nez Perce guide, the Corps crosses the Snake River and continues upriver to present Clarkston, Washington. Curious villagers crowd camp, and Lewis sees menstrual lodges.

• May 16, 1804 -

  The boats set out early, pass the coal beds of Charbonier Bluff, and reach St. Charles, an early French settlement on the Missouri River. Many citizens come out to see the event and socialization commences.

• March 26, 1806 -

  After a wet night, they paddle approximately 18 miles up the Columbia River and camp on an island near an area they call "fannys bottom". Lewis describes eagles and substitutes for tobacco.

• The Wahkiakums -

  The Wahkiakums exemplify the complexities encountered when trying to classify Chinookan peoples. Linguistically, they spoke the Upper Chinookan Clackamas dialect. Culturally, they were related to the Lower Chinookan Clatsops and Chinooks proper. They resided primarily along the north side of the Columbia between Grays Bay and Cathlamet, Washington.

• November 13, 1803 -

  The expedition leaves Fort Massac and sets up a camp about three miles down the Ohio. Lewis is "siezed with a violent ague" similar to malaria.

• Rattlesnakes -

  Lewis awoke to find "a large rattlesnake coiled on the leaning trunk of a tree under the shade of which I had been lying." It certainly wasn't the first rattlesnake seen on the trip, but he killed this one, and took time to study it.

• The Deschutes River -

  The fall salmon run was ending when the Corps arrived at the Great Falls of the Columbia, several miles below the mouth of Towarnehiooks, with some native people still at the river, fishing with gigs and nets and processing their salmon harvest.

• March 27, 1806 -

  Near present Deer Island, Oregon, some generous Skilloots give away food with hopes that the expedition hunters will hunt with them. Lewis describes the area's trees and prepares a salmonberry specimen.

• A Solitary Hero -

  Lewis had made a habit of abandoning Clark in quests for exploratory triumph. It was no coincidence that Lewis was the first to see the Great Falls or the Continental Divide; he engineered those moments.

• April 9, 1806 -

  The flotilla moves sixteen miles up the Columbia River Gorge marveling at its many beautiful waterfalls. In Washington City, the Secretary of War deals with the unexpected death of Arikara Chief Too Né.

• October 29, 1805 -

  Moving 35 miles down the Columbia, the expedition encounters many Sahaptin and Upper Chinook villages. They pass an island with numerous graves—Memaloose—and camp above the Little White Salmon River.

• October 21, 1805 -

  Moving down the Columbia above present John Day Dam, the paddlers navigate several rapids while the non-swimmers walk around them. Pvt. Collins shares his camas-brewed beer, and Mt. Hood is in view.

• September 28, 1803 -

  Lewis arrives in Cincinnati, Ohio where he rests his crew and writes letters to President Jefferson and William Clark. He tells Jefferson he has come 500 miles and Clark that he has two good recruits.

• September 6, 1803 -

  Lewis employs horses, sails, and oxen to pass over several gravel bars. He tries sailing, but in the high wind, the sprit sail breaks. They pass Steubenville, Ohio but only make ten miles for the day.

• John Newman -

  A Pennsylvanian, he had transferred from Fort Massac into the expedition in the fall of 1803, and was a good member of the expedition until October 1804 when he was convicted of "having uttered repeated expressions of a highly criminal and mutinous nature."

• April 25, 1806 -

  During a march of 20 miles, the travelers stop at a large Pish-quit-pah village that have never seen white men before. Lewis remarks on the abundant bunch grass of the Horse Heaven Hills.

• April 7, 1806 -

  The expedition spends another day at the lower end of the Columbia River Gorge to hunt and jerk meat. The men practice shooting and adjust their sights. Lewis describes the mountain quail, new to science.

• November 7, 1805 -

  The expedition paddles around Columbia River islands and stops at two Wahkiakum villages. They reach a landmark presently named Pillar Rock where Clark mistakenly exclaims 'Ocean in view! O! the joy'.

• September 13, 1803 -

  At sunrise, the boats move down the Ohio River. They lift the barge over a few riffles and see a flock of passenger pigeons. Anchored opposite Marietta, Ohio, Lewis writes a letter to President Jefferson.

• April 2, 1806 -

  Clark sets out to find the Multnomah River and at its mouth, resorts to trickery to entice Indians to trade for food. At Provision Camp, Lewis says the berries are all gone except for the Oregon grape.

• September 4, 1803 -

  As they leave Pennsylvania along the Ohio River, the pirogue springs a serious leak, so they must stop to repair it. Lewis buys a canoe, but it too leaks. Camp is near Newell in present West Virginia.

• April 28, 1806 -

  Across from the Walla Walla River, talks begin with Sacagawea and Charbonneau as interpreters. Yelleppit brings Clark a horse, Clark gives medical aid, and Pvt. Frazer buys ten fat dogs for consumption.

• December 30, 1805 -

  At Fort Clatsop, the journalists appear happy to see the sun, and Clark enjoys a sumptuous dinner of fresh elk tongue and marrow bones. Clark lists the area fauna: slugs, insects, snakes, and waterfowl.

• The Falls of the Ohio -

  As the days grew shorter and cooler, William Clark must have worn a path to the Louisville landing. The barge (keelboat) could be expected to heave into site at any moment.

• William Clark (1784–1838) -

  Clark was a highly intelligent man, and in terms of the practical knowledge required to make his way in the wilderness, to lead men, and to succeed in the world of frontier politics, he was highly educated and consummately effective.

• September 15, 1803 -

  Lewis and his crew head down the Ohio passing present Little Kanawha and Little Hocking rivers. The barge must be lifted over a gravel bar, and they stop for the day near Blennerhassett Island.

• February 8, 1806 -

  All three sergeants are dispatched to bring into Fort Clatsop the various elk killed on previous days. By day’s end, they all complete their missions. Lewis describes the salal plant.

• April 3, 1806 -

  Clark concludes his exploration of the Willamette River and learns that a smallpox epidemic had devastated the local population. At Provision Camp, Lewis demonstrates the air gun as a defensive measure.

• The Salt Works -

  On 28 December 1805, the officers detailed three enlisted men to proceed to the Ocean and "at Some Convenient place form a Camp and Commence makeing Salt with 5 of the largest Kittles . . . ."

• November 27, 1805 -

  Unable to continue due to high winds and waves, they are forced to take shelter on a narrow isthmus—present Tongue Point near Astoria, Oregon. Everyone is wet and disagreeable.

• November 17, 1803 -

  The day is stormy at the mouth of the Ohio. Strong winds swamp the smaller boats, which fortunately had been emptied of their cargo. The captains compare the sizes of the Mississippi and Ohio riverbanks.

• September 16, 1803 -

  After delaying for fog, Lewis pushes his crew until nearly dark. They pass an area with trees marked by both Indians and settlers. At camp near present Ravenswood, West Virginia, the crew is exhausted.

• The Watlalas -

  Watlala was the name of a key Upper Chinookan village at the Cascades of the Columbia. The name has been extended by many to mean the tribe more often called the Cascades. The captains called them the Shahala, meaning 'those upriver.' The natural constriction of the river provided the people with a fishery and a good measure of control over those who traveled up and down the river. As a result, the Cascade Clahclellah village which the expedition visited on 31 October 1805 and 9 April 1806 was a major trade center before and during white contact.

• The Skilloots -

  The Skilloot were an Upper Chinookan group that spoke the Clackamas dialect of the Chinookan language. They were located on both sides of the Columbia River above and below the mouth of the Cowlitz. At first, the captains applied the name over a much wider area, perhaps misinterpreting a similar expression meaning 'look at him!'. Cape Horn, a few miles east of Washougal, was named sqúlips, and could be the origin of the tribe's name.

• January 8, 1806 -

  From Clark's Point of View above Ecola, Clark's group enjoys the "grandest and most pleasing prospects". At Ecola, Tillamook Indians trade a little whale blubber, and Pvt. McNeal's life is threatened.

• November 18, 1803 -

  The captains and eight men cross the Ohio to visit Fort Jefferson, established by William’s older brother, George Rogers Clark. They return to find that several enlisted men have left camp and are drunk.

• The Sandy River -

  The expedition traveled out from under an ancient river channel frozen in time to a river discharging huge volumes of sediment in real time, the "quicksand river," now known as the Sandy River.

• November 24, 1803 -

  Moving ten miles up the Mississippi, a missing hunter—Sgt. Pryor—is found, and Lewis observes the limestone lining the shores and hills of present Trail of Tears (Missouri) State Park.

• Alcohol Rations -

  No military commander of the 18th-century would have thought of leading his troops on any mission without planning for liquor. In legislation and military orders of the day, the ration was typically expressed in "gills."

• November 19, 1803 -

  On the expedition's final day encamped at the mouth of the Ohio, Clark completes his survey of that river's confluence with the Mississippi, and Lewis makes celestial observations.