Lewisandclarkcampsites

"The Lewis & Clark Connection"
along the
Lower Columbia River Water Trail

The following information is provided courtesy of Roger Wendlick.
His biography follows immediately at the end.
The campsites noted are only those along the lower Columbia River where the proposed Lower Columbia River Water Trail will travel.

Down the Columbia! -- The Westerly Lewis and Clark Campsites

from Cascade Locks (Oct. 30, 1805) to Pillar Rock (Nov. 7, 1805)

Introduction

The westerly course of the Corps of Discovery took them on their final leg through the Columbia River Gorge. They had traversed mountain ranges and portaged great falls in their quest for an overland water route to the Pacific Ocean. On March 30, 1805 they encountered the last natural major obstacle, the "Great Rapid" or "Shute," now inundated under the reservoir of the Bonneville Dam (1937). As they camped on a small island opposite the town of Cascade Locks, Clark surveyed the 3-mile route for safe passage. At the lower end of the rapids he saw a large rock he estimated to be 800 feet high and named it "Beaten Rock". (On the return trip Lewis called it "Beacon Rock", the name it retains today). He also noted for the first time the tidal effect on the river there. November 1, the Corps portaged the rapids and began paddling towards mission’s end, the mouth of the Columbia River. The campsites were located as follows.

November 2, 1805, camp was at the base of Rooster Rock. It was on the way downstream Clark attempted to wade across today’s Sandy River only to sink in the sands, and thus naming it the "Quicksand River". He also thought this was the river that drained the Willamette Valley to the south.
November 3, 1805, camp was on Diamond Island. When Lewis and Clark arrived in the Portland-Vancouver area, today's Government Island was divided into three separate islands. Diamond Island was the most easterly one.
November 4, 1805, camp was in the vicinity of Post Office Lake on the northerly shore in Washington, and opposite the middle of today’s Sauvie Island.
November 5, 1805, camp was on the Oregon shore about a mile down-steam of Prescott Beach (according to Clark’s map and description) in the vicinity of the community known today as Lindberg. Possibly, they were camped at Lindberg Beach. Clark noted in his journal that it was, "5 miles to a point of high piney land on the Lard Side".
November 6, 1805, camp was most likely Cape Horn in Wahkiakum County, Washington opposite the lower end of Wallace Island. (Not to be confused with the other Cape Horn of steep basalt cliffs that plunge into the Columbia upriver from the one just mentioned.)
November 7, 1805, camp was on the north shore opposite Pillar Rock (literally a pillar of rock in the middle of the Columbia that still exists today as both a landmark and obstacle to boaters and ships traveling the river here) and located in Wahkiakum County, Washington. This is where Clark enters in his journal at the end of the day of 34 miles travel the following passage. "The rain continued until 9 o’clock (PM) moderately. We are in view of the opening of the ocean, which creates great joy. A remarkable rock of about 50 feet high and about 20 feet diameter is situated opposite our camp about a half-mile from shore. Several marshy islands toward the lard side the shape of them I can’t see as the river is wide and the day foggey." (I (Wendlick) tend to agree with some other scholars such as Dr. Gary Moulton, Thwaites, Burroughs and Olin Wheeler that Clark in fact did not see the ocean at this point in the journey, but only actually saw the swells in the estuary and heard the breakers against the shore. Others have said this is indeed where they did first see the Pacific.)

They spent the next week attempting to reach the mouth of the Columbia where they finally arrived on the 14^th of November "in full view of the ocean." The two captains took separate treks from "Station Camp" near present-day Megler, Washington, to the headlands further down the Columbia to its mouth. They decided to take a vote at Station Camp from all the expedition members as to where their wintering quarters should be. On November 24, 1805 the vote was taken with the majority favoring the south side of the river. On December 7^th they arrived at the site where Fort Clatsop was erected in present-day Oregon, which became a very wet stay for their 106 days there. There were only 12 days it didn’t rain, and only 6 of those were clear and sunny!

Up the Columbia! -- The Easterly Lewis and Clark Campsites

from Tongue Point (Mar. 24, 1806) to Tanner Creek (Apr. 9, 1806)

The Corps departed on the 23^rd of March to return to St. Louis. They rounded Tongue Point and stopped at a small stream. The campsites on their return upriver were as follows.

March 23, 1806, their camp was at the west side of the mouth of Mill Creek
March 24, 1806, camp was in the vicinity of Aldrich Point in Clatsop County.
March 25, 1806, camp was at the west side of the mouth of the Clatskanie River named Point Adams. (Not to be confused with the point of the same name at the mouth of the Columbia.)
March 26, 1806, here they camped on "the next island above fannies island" (today’s Crims Island). The island is most likely Walkers Island, opposite today's Longview, Washington.
March 27, 1806, camp is in the vicinity of Goble, Oregon.
March 28, 1806, camp was on Deer Island, so named by Lewis and Clark.
March 29, 1806, camp was on the banks of Lake River behind Bachelor Island next to Carty Lake. The once large and important Indian village of Cathlapotle was located in this area, today the area is the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Washington.
March 30, 1806, camp was just downstream from Ryan Point along the shoreline opposite today's Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. On this day in 1806 they also passed Sauvie or "Wapato" Island, so named then for the Wapato that grew and was harvested there for eating, a starchy root -- something like eating potatoes today. By the way, there is no documentation in any of the journals that supports the theory they landed on the island. They describe the landscape well but it appears they remained on the Washington side never stopping on the island itself. Sargent Gass noted, "We passed some villages of the natives on Wapto island, which is about 20 miles long and one (mile) broad, but did not halt at any of them."
March 31 through Apr. 6, 1806, this campsite and base camp was across from the upper outlet of the Sandy River or "Quicksand River", 2 miles east of today's Parkersville Landing. The upper fork of the Sandy River was actually plugged up in 1932, although the original channel still exists. This is where the Indians told the captains there was no food to be found further up the Columbia River. So a base camp was established for a week here in order to stock provisions that would last them until they reached the Nez Perce much further up the Columbia for another resupply. The Indians also told of a large river they called the "Multnomah" (today's Willamette River) that drained the (Willamette) valley to the south. (Clark originally thought on the trip downriver that this -- that the "Quicksand River" (today's Sandy River) -- is what actually drained the Willamette Valley. Clark decided to explore today's Willamette River, and traveled to just above the location of today's St. Johns Bridge, returning in 3 days. In passing the Willamette River in both directions, the members of the Corps of Discovery oringinally failed to see the mouth of it as it entered the Columbia because their field of sight was blocked by 3 islands, this according to the journals of Clark, Gass and Whitehouse.
Apr. 6, 1806, their campsite is somewhat of a mystery. The expedition departed the morning of the 6^th.. They found the camp of their hunters who had been dispatched to ascend the river on the south side and find more game. The date on Clark’s map indicates the camp of April 7-8 but according to the journals should include the night of the 6^th. The campsite as Clark marked on his map just doesn’t fit the journal entry. It is shown on the Oregon shore near Dodson. This site is across from Duncan Creek. The village of the Wah-clel-lah was on the bank between this site and Woodward Creek. The journals state that this tribal village was about 8 miles upstream from the camp of the hunters. Again in keeping with Dr. Gary Moulton, editor of the 13-volume Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, it appears the campsite of April 6-8 was in the Sheppard's Dell area, west of today's Multnomah Falls.
April 9, 1806, camp was at the mouth of Tanner Creek just below Bonneville Dam.

As we all know, the famed expedition continued up the Columbia, over the Rocky Mountains, and down the Missouri River to eventually return home.

ROGER WENDLICK IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS FOR THIS EVENT,

BUT ONLY THROUGH AUGUST 7TH

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Roger Wendlick began collecting memorabilia in 1980 from the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, which was held in Portland, Oregon in 1905. It was a great hobby for about four years, but his interest grew beyond that to include the expedition and it's history. Wendlick began his own epic journey to begin collecting books and other printed material relating to, and actually utilized by, the actual expedition undertaken by Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery. Skirting bankruptcy, using credit cards, three home mortgages, and working as many overtime hours as his boss would allow as a construction supervisor, after 18 years he had amassed what has became known toady as the finest and most complete collection of such material in the world! His collection found a new home at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon in 1998.

Half donation, and half purchase by the college, the "Wendlick Collection" is now available for research to scholars from around the world. Wendlick was able to take early retirement and so began his current journey following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, and studying the very books that he once called "his children."

Wendlick is on the board of the National Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and the Lewis & Clark College Bicentennial Committee. He can often be found in his buckskins portraying "George Drouillard" -- the man known as the third most important of the expedition -- and telling the story of the expedition at special events and presentations around the United States. He resides -- and practices throwing his tomahawk and knife -- at his home in Portland, Oregon.