Murray Hayes
President, WA LCTHF
936 Cameron Road
Sequim, WA 98382
Phone: (360) 582-1069
email: mlhayes@olypen.com

Treasurer Dee Coons
2703 8th Avenue
Clarkston, WA 99403

"Doc" Wesselius
1608 Big Hanaford Valley
Centralia, WA 98531

Pam Andersen
2374 Crestline Blvd NW
Olympia, WA 98502
[reyson@prodigy.com]

Linda Fee
Kooskia Ranger Station
Rt 1, Box 398
Kooskia, ID 83539

October 12, 1805
"a fair Cool morning we Set out at 7 o'Clock and proceeded on . . . ." Where Deadman Creek meets the Snake River, Clark notes, "here the country assends with a gentle assent to the high plains and the River is 400 yards wide . . . ." After bouncing through long and dangerous rapids, the Indians told them that there were more to come: "verry bad about two miles in length and maney turns necessary to Stear Clare of the rocks . . . ." As it was now getting late, they decided to set up camp below the mouth of Alkali Flat Creek which is near the town of Riparia, just west of Little Goose Dam. Their campsite was at the head of Texas Rapids which is now below the backwater of Lower Monumental Dam. Clark writes, "Counrty as yesterday open plains no timber of any kind . . . The hills or asscents from the water is faced with a dark ruged Stone . . . ." These open plains were about 200 feet above the river on each side, and the lack of timber was a result of their now being in the arid Great Columbia Plain. The dark rugged stone is basalt (molten lava) which extends for hundreds of miles and is several hundred feet thick. The men were tired and soaked to the skin. The Texas Rapids could wait until tomorrow! Again, 30 miles were navigated this day through this swirling, boiling river.

October 13, 1805
The Corps awakens to "a windey dark raney morning The rain commenced before day and Continued moderately . . . ." Before departing, Captain Lewis scouted the entire length of the rapids. With the Indian pilots guiding the canoes (dugouts) through two miles of rapids, they made it again without incident. Are these guys good or what! They proceeded on for another two miles or so before they encountered another series of whitewater rapids, which would bring them to the mouth of the Tucannon River. When looking at this part of the Snake River today, it is impossible to visualize the mile after mile of rapids the Corps of Discovery had to negotiate; and as William Clark noted, "We should make more portages if the Season was not So far advanced and the time perious with us . . . ." Throughout, the country remained much the same, all high, dry prairie and rolling, wrinkled hills. After passing the Tucannon River, on their larboard side (left) the Snake becomes crowded with rough black basalt rocks which created another rapid of four miles length and here the river was compressed into a narrow channel about 20 yards wide! After shooting these rapids, they came to the mouth of a very large river on their starboard side (right) which they named Drewyer's River in honor of George Drouillard, a civilian member of the Expedition. We now know this river as the Palouse and at the mouth is Lyon's Ferry State Park, at that time the site of a large Palouse village. In 1964, when the railroad built the bridge over the river, a Jefferson Peace Medal was found in a cemetery, which had been given to Chief Kepownkon by Lewis and Clark. This medal can be seen at WSU in Pullman, Washington. About one mile up the Palouse River from the Lyon's Ferry bridge is Marmes Rock Shelter where deposits of human bone were found which date back 10,000 years! Artifacts such as weapon points, bone needles and alivella shells were also found. Lewis and Clark saw no Indians here so proceeded down the Snake, when suddenly two Palouse appeared on horseback. The Indians followed the Corps to their next campsite which is near Ayer, Washington on the south side of the Snake. Another physically exhausting day had ended with the Corps traveling only 23 miles.

October 14, 1805
"A verry cold morning wind from the West and Cool . . . ." At this point you begin to wonder if the men, upon awakening, felt the same passion and sense of adventure that had marked each of their previous mornings, knowing that more rapids and the cold, numbing dampness was once again waiting for them! After two and half miles, they came upon one of the few landmarks that impressed them enough in this area to name it. Now Monumental Rock just northeast of Magallon, Washington, Lewis writes, ". . . a remarkable rock very large and resembling the hill (hull) of a ship." Lower Monumental Dam takes its name from this landmark which is on the south side of the Snake. After a distance of twelve miles, the head of a rapid appears, larger and more dangerous then ANY of the prior rapids they had encountered! It just doesn't seem to be getting any easier for the expedition! This newest challenge was at least three miles in length, and it is here that the odds finally caught up with the Corps. Three of the dugouts got stuck and the fourth hit a rock. Disaster struck at Pine Rapids where the river was parted by a rock island. The dugout that Drewyer (Drouillard) was steering struck a large rock and sank; the men scrambled onto the rocky isle but lost some of their equipment. Another canoe was sent to rescue both the men and whatever supplies could be salvaged. Patrick Gass says, "all wet and some articles were lost. We halted on an island to dry the baggage having come 14 miles." This island was at the Pine Tree Rapids, just downstream from Burr Canyon and now inundated by Lake Sacajawea. Thus ended the most exciting day they had since leaving their camp at Tecminicum.

October 15, 1805
This morning was "fair . . . after a Cold night. Some Frost and ice." Hunters were sent out and the baggage continued to dry, while at the same time Captain Lewis scoured the plains and saw at a distance of about 60 miles a mountain range we know as the Blue Mountains. Within a period of less then forty years, the great migrations to the "West" would bring the pioneers by the tens of thousands across these same mountains along the Oregon Trail. The hunters came back with no food and, with Captain Lewis pointing the way, the Corps of Discovery set out once again. After traveling several miles they were again approached by the Palouse Indians near a basin where the water was quiet and resembled a lake. Here again they warn the Corps of the dangerous rapids ahead! Would these rapids never come to an end? Will they accompany us all the way to the ocean? These must have been some of their thoughts as they listened to the Palouse! This was to be a short day, as they hadn't left their prior camp until 2pm and daylight was nearly gone. It was decided to make camp at Rattlesnake Flats which is at the head of the perilous Fish-Hook rapids on the starboard side (right) of the great Snake River. Captain Lewis would later enter this comment into his journal: "we only made 20 miles today owing to the detention in passing rapids &c." It took the Corps of Discovery five days to travel, with the current, a distance of less than 120 miles; whereas on the 10th of October they literally flew 60 miles down the Clearwater River! I suppose this stretch of the Snake River is considered insignificant to most writers and readers as it appears that not much happened during this part of the adventure. However, the Corps of Discovery definitely would state otherwise!

Next time, we'll follow the Corps to the mouth of the Walla Walla River.

-- submitted by Don Popejoy
dpoctalc1@aol.com

Follow campsites for Lewis and Clark River Route
October 10-15, 1805

(map taken from "Lewis and Clark in Washington State" brochure, 2/98)

L&C Reading List
2374 Crestline Blvd NW
Olympia, WA 98502.

• Regarding the Missouri Historical Society's exhibit of original artifacts and documents from the Expedition, likely to be shown in Portland in 2005: Important artifacts tracked down so far include Lewis' telescope & watch and Clark's compass as well as Jefferson Peace Medals and a certificate presented to an Indian, . . . "items that survived all these years because the families treasured it." Donations to a special fund to bring the exhibit to the Northwest can be sent to the Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR 97205. (excerpt from The Oregonian, 11/5/98).
  
  
• The long-held view that Lewis & Clark completed their westward journey in Oregon at Fort Clatsop is being challenged by Washington state historians. Dave Nicandri, director of the Washington State Historical Society, says, "The Washington history of Lewis & Clark has been overshadowed by an ordinary winter encampment on the Oregon side. . . . the operative phase of exploration on the Lower Columbia played out from the Washington side of the river. No one wants to create a feud or diminish the important of Fort Clatsop, but the state of Washington needs to do a much better job telling its story on this side of the river." Rex Ziak, cinematographer/photographer by trade, dogged amateur historian & native of Naselle [who spoke to our Chapter in Ilwaco in Feb 1998] made copies of the journals and, over the course of six wet winters, took them to the banks of the Columbia along with surveying equipment and his own detailed knowledge of the craggy landscape to pinpoint the campsites described by the explorers. One of Clark's maps of the river's edge shows four dotted lines -- each a carefully calculated compass reading aligned to a specific landmark. The four lines meet at a single point on the Columbia's north banks. The point marks the site Lewis & Clark called Station Camp (also referred to by historians as the McGowan Site after its pioneer settler P.J. McGowan). Ziak notes, "It was the only one of Clark's maps with a campsite marked so precisely." He deduced that Clark, an exacting surveyor, was permanently marking the site, marking it as the official end of the Corps of Discovery journey. Ziak has shared his findings with historians around the state, ". . . and now a lot of people are talking about them," says Gonzaga professor Robert Carriker. Just as there is no agreement among the experts as to The End of the trail, the same argument simmers at the opposite end of the trail. There, cities like Louisville, Monticello, Pittsburg and Washington, D.C. all vie for status as The Beginning of the trail. Wherever the west coast argument does or does not end, the actual historic site is buried under pavement on Highway 101, just west of the Astoria Bridge. As a result of Ziak's work, a plan for a 30-mile interpretive trail that traces the explorers' forgotten footsteps in westernmost Washington is included in the state’s official tourism plan for the bicentennial. Some of the ideas are also being explored in Washington, D.C. according to a representative from U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks' office. (excerpts from Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2/2/99).
  
  
• Notice the new format for this issue of our newsletter? We'll be experimenting with different styles for a while—bear with us as we strive to design a great newsletter for our Chapter!
  
  
• More info about Ken Karsmizki's Lewis & Clark archeological sites: In addition to the Lower Portage Camp site and Fort Clatsop, he hopes to find the remains of the iron-frame boat at the Upper Portage Camp, is looking at Fort Mandan in North Dakota, the Canoe Camp near Great Falls, and the Sink Hole Camp in the Idaho segment of the Lolo Trail. In their 863-day journey through the west, Lewis & Clark camped at more than 600 sites and described them in the journals. But, until last year, there was no physical evidence that could be linked conclusively to the famed 1804-06 trip. Karsmizki found the first physical evidence of a Lewis & Clark campsite, a result of 12 years of archeological digging at the Lower Portage Camp site. (excerpt from The Oregonian, 9/16/98).