The End of the Trail

 

Cape Disappointment State Park, Washington.

This part of Oregon, on the southern shore of the mighty Columbia River, has long been the western extent of many a great journey. It marks the western zenith of our grand adventure seeing as we are some 3,450 miles from Bar Harbor after a route that has covered more than 4,400 miles, not including another 1,400 miles of side trips.

Over the past few days we’ve been learning about those of more noble purpose who preceded us to this place, in particular Lewis and Clark, the dynamic exploring duo of the early 1800s who on their “Voyage of Discovery,” traversed the massive dark territory of the Louisiana Purchase and cemented the United States as truly a country stretching from sea to shining sea.

Lewis and Clark Memorial in Seaside.

Their exploits are celebrated everywhere here including at a massive bronze statue in the center of Seaside’s main promenade. Locations on the Washington side of the river, where they first actually reached the Pacific, commemorate various camps and misadventures. An interpretive center is located in a former naval gun battery at Point Disappointment State Park.

Fort Clatsop, where they spent the winter of 1805-1806, is a national memorial not far from Seaside on the Oregon side of the Columbia. 

Fort Clatsop National Memorial

The current replica of the fort is the third on the site. Fur traders and others who visited the original fort around 1810 report it was already overgrown and run down. A replica built in 1955 burned down in 2005. The current iteration opened in 2006.

Also in Seaside is a postage-stamp park known as the Lewis and Clark Salt Works. By the time they reached the Pacific the party had exhausted its store of salt that was used for seasoning meals and for preserving meat and fish procured along the way. Because the massive amount of fresh water in the Columbia River dilutes the sea for miles around the mouth, there was no place close to Fort Clatsop to boil water for salt. They had to range farther afield. Five members of the corps set up on what was then the beach about 15 miles away and kept a fire going day and night for nearly 50 days to boil seawater to obtain what amounted to nearly four bushels of salt.

Despite dangers of the climate and fairly regular canoe and boat capsizes, only one person died on Lewis and Clark’s remarkable quest. Sergeant Charles Floyd died of appendicitis just three months in.

While much is made of the Captains’ route-finding and map making skills, the truth is that the Voyage of the Discovery would have become a Voyage of the Doomed had it not been for the scores of Native America tribes they met with, traded with, and socialized with on their trip. Sacagawea was key as an interpreter and guide as was “Old Toby,” and other native peoples. When the corps had gone as far upstream on the Missouri River as possible by boat, they were able to get horses from the Shoshone Tribe.

In fact, the largest single line item on the expedition’s hand-written spreadsheet, $696, was for beads, knives, tobacco and colored cloth to trade with the natives.

Despite its militaristic organizational structure, and scientific goals, Lewis and Clark’s corps of discovery actually was ahead of its time. It mirrored the diverse, democratic country we have today. It’s ranks included a black man, Clark’s slave York, a Native American woman, Sacagawea, an infant, and immigrant representatives of most of the old empires of Europe. Over the course of the expedition, which took two years and four months, all members of the party were consulted on major decisions and all had a vote. Unfortunately, York was not freed until some years after the expedition returned.

After spending time in the museum and visitor center at Fort Clatsop we tour the replica of the original structure. Spartan in nature, damp and dark, even on this relatively bright, dry day, it isn’t difficult to imagine how uncomfortable and stressful is must have been to spend five months here. This close to the coast it seldom snows but it receives more than 100 inches of rain annually, most in the winter months. Being wet for a day or two is survivable but when there’s little chance of getting fully dry for weeks on end, no glass on the windows, and constantly revolving illness among your associates, the fact they didn’t all go mad, or mutiny, is remarkable. Of course compared to some of the conditions they had already endured, and survived, these dark and barren log rooms, some, granted, with fireplaces, must have seemed like positively posh digs.

Comfort, of course, is all relative. The hardships of travel, mere first-world inconveniences nowadays compared to those encountered by the Corps of Discovery, must be balanced against the need to explore and ultimate goals of a trip. Knowledge, of course, is always near the top of the list, as is understanding. Spending time with those once close and now far away however, is the biggest motivator of all.

As of tomorrow, we’ll have been on the road, or more accurately the rails, for exactly a month. Despite the miles traveled, and no matter how lovely, dark and deep the majestic forests of the temperate rain forest here, we’ve got another 3,500 or so more miles to go, as Robert Frost so eloquently wrote, “before we sleep.” Winter’s cold and snow will be following close behind us as we turn and head east for home. We will great them too as old and familiar friends.

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Fort Clatsop