Meriwether Lewis chose a winter quarters site on a stream that emptied into one of the bays in the Columbia estuary that was seemingly on good elk-hunting grounds and close enough to the seashore to establish a salt-distilling operation. Clark called the place “the most eligable Situation for our purposes of any in its neighbourhood.” In just under four weeks, the Corps built a modest stockade, which featured several attached cabins surrounding a central yard.
The captains operated Fort Clatsop on a different model than Fort Mandan. By their orders, sentinels patrolled the gate and Indians could not remain inside the fort after dusk. The heightened security reflected their need to protect goods and control interaction between Indians and Corps members. Relationships at Fort Clatsop took a much different turn than they had at Fort Mandan.
Lewis and Clark recorded mixed feelings about the Clatsop, Tillamook, and Chinook who lived along the coast, both north and south of the Columbia. In some journal entries, the captains commented on their friendliness, but they also criticized the Clatsops and Tillamooks for stinginess and their reluctance to trade. They considered the Chinooks to be thieving and also reluctant traders.
In trade relations, conditions conspired against Lewis and Clark. They arrived on the lower Columbia with few trade goods left in their store and what they had looked inferior and relatively valueless to Indian traders, who had become accustomed to the quality and variety of goods purveyed by maritime traders. In one instance, Indian traders rejected proffered articles but spied Sacagawea’s beaded belt and managed to make an exchange for it. Establishing any kind of permanent trade relationship seemed beyond the captains’ grasp. They even had difficulty trading for food.
Chinook, Clatsop, and Tillamook physical appearance and behavior drew the most critical appraisals from Lewis and Clark. They had complained about Indian theft throughout their descent of the lower Columbia, but at the coast they added a string of caustic evaluations that focused on body types and social behaviors. Describing all of the coastal peoples, Lewis called them “reather diminutive, and illy shapen; possessing thick broad flat feet, thick ankles, [and] crooked legs.” Clark described Chinook women’s behavior critically, noting that they “are lude and Carry on Sport publickly.” About the men, Lewis commented, that “they do not hold the virtue of their women in high estimation, and will even prostitute their wives and daughters for a fishinghook or a stran of beads.” The captains misunderstood gender relations, trade practices, and the social structure of coastal groups. The combination of a disagreeable climate, no visiting ships, unsuccessful trade relationships, and too much idleness among the Corps made for an unflattering portrait of the lower Columbia in the captains’ minds.
© William L. Lang, 2004
