286 DESCENT OF THE COLUMBIA. [1805. 



of the Columbia, to which they gave the name of Lewis ; and, in seven 

 days more, they reached the point of its confluence with the larger 

 northern branch, called by them the Clarice. They were then fairly 

 launched on the Great River of the West, and passing down it, 

 through many dangerous rapids, they, on the 31st, arrived at the 

 Falls of the Columbia, where it rushes through the lofty chain of 

 mountains nearest the Pacific. Some of their canoes descended 

 these falls in safety ; the others and the goods were carried around 

 by land, and replaced in the water at the foot of the cataract. At 

 a short distance below, the tides of the Pacific were observed ; and, 

 on the 15th of November, the whole party landed on Cape Disap- 

 pointment, at the mouth of the Columbia, about six hundred miles 

 from the place at which they had embarked on its waters, and more 

 than four thousand, by their route, from the mouth of the Missouri. 



The winter, or rather the rainy season, having commenced when 

 the party reached the mouth of the Columbia, it became necessary 

 for them to remain there until the following spring. They accord- 

 ingly prepared a habitation on the north side of the river, eleven 

 miles in a straight line from Cape Disappointment, from which they 

 were, however, soon driven by the floods ; they then found a suit- 

 able spot on the south side, a little higher up, where they formed 

 their dwelling, called by them Fort Clatsop, and remained until 

 the middle of March, 1806. During this period, the cold was by 

 no means severe, less so, indeed, than on the Atlantic shore of the 

 continent ten degrees farther south ; but the rains were incessant 

 and violent, and the river being at the same time generally too 

 much agitated by the winds and the waves from the ocean for the 

 Americans to venture on it in their canoes, they were often unable 

 to obtain provisions, either by hunting or fishing. The Clatsop 

 Indians who occupy the south side of the Columbia, at its mouth, 

 and the Chinnoolcs, on the opposite shore, conducted themselves 

 peaceably ; but their prices for every thing which they offered for 

 sale were so high, that, no trade could be carried on with them. 

 The party were, in consequence of the rains, seldom able to quit 

 their encampment ; and the only excursion of any length made by 

 them during the winter, was as far as the promontory overhanging 

 the Pacific, thirty miles south of the Columbia, which they called 

 Clarice's Point of View, near the Cape Lookout of Meares. 



On the 23d of March, 1806, the Americans commenced the 

 ascent of the Columbia in canoes, on their return to the United 

 States. Proceeding slowly up the river, they carefully examined 



