Fort Clatsop Suggested Historical Area Report

¹Patrick Gass, Gass's Journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Chicago, 1904), 184; Milo M. Quaife (ed.), The Journals of Captain Meriwether Lewis and Sergeant John Ordway (Publications of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Collections, XXII, Madison, 1916), 316; Reuben Gold Thwaites (ed.), Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804-1806 (7 vols. and atlas, New York, 1904-1905), III, 269-270, 316, 342; IV, 19.

²Thwaites, op. cit., IV, 41.

³T. C. Elliott, "Journal of David Thompson," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, XV (June 1914), 105. The name "Lewis River," did not "take." The stream was shown as "Young's River" on some maps of the 1830's; the name "Lewis and Clark River" evidently first appeared in print in 1844.

⁴Gabriel Franchere, Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast. (R. G. Thwaites, ed., Early Western Travels, VI, Cleveland, 1904), 259.

⁵Ross Cox, Adventures on the Columbia River (2 vols., London, 1831), I, 116.

⁶Kenneth A. Spaulding (ed.), On the Oregon Trail: Robert Stuart's Journey of Discovery (Norman, Okla., 1953), 27-28.

⁷Elliott Coues (ed.), New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest; the Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry and of David Thompson... (3 vols., New York, 1897), II, 771-772.

⁸Ore. Hist. Quart., VII(March 1907), 60.

⁹John K. Townsend, Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains (R. G. Thwaites, ed., Early Western Travels, XXI, Cleveland, 1905), 362-363.

¹⁰D. Lee and J. H. Frost, Ten Years in Oregon (New York, 1844), 15.

¹¹J. Q. A. Bowlby to F. G. Young, Astoria, April 21, 1904, MS, in Oregon Historical Society.

¹²Vernon Carstensen (ed.), "Pacific Northwest Letters of George Gibbs," in Ore. Hist. Quart., LIV(September 1953), 230.

¹³George Gibbs, "Tribes of Western Washington and Northwestern Oregon," in U. S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, Contributions to North American Ethnology (2 vols. in 3, Washington, 1877-1890), I, 238.

¹⁴Charles Melville Scammon, Collection, MSS, in Bancroft Library, University of California, P-K 206, vol. 5, n.p. Unfortunately, this pencil drawing is of little assistance in identifying the site. It shows only a single, small, gable-roofed structure backed by a dense stand of tall evergreens. The place could be almost any forested tract in the Pacific Northwest, which fact in itself is rather confusing, since as late as 1856, at least, a fairly extensive area near the fort site is known to have been cleared of trees and under cultivation as a garden. The trees in the Scammon sketch appear much taller than the 20-foot ones mentioned by Mrs. Victor in 1872. See note 15 below.

¹⁵Francis Fuller Victor, All Over Oregon and Washington (San Francisco, 1872), 43.

¹⁶Oregonian (Portland, Ore.), June 27, 1885, p. 3, col. 3.

¹⁷Elliott Coues (ed.), History of the Expedition under the Command of Lewis and Clark (4 vols., New York, 1893), III, 904-905, note 3.

¹⁸Handwritten inscriptions on the reverse sides of three photographs taken on the occasion of W Wheeler's visit and now in the Oregon Historical Society bear the dated August 20, 1899." That these photographs were taken for Wheeler is sufficiently proved by the fact that two of them form the illustrations for his first published account of his visit to the site. Olin D. Wheeler, "On the Trail of Lewis and Clark," in Wonderland, 1900 (St. Paul, Minn., Northern Pacific Railway, 1900), 59.

¹⁹Wheeler, "On the Trail of Lewis and Clark,", 59.

²⁰Ibid., 58; Olin D. Wheeler The Trail of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1804 (2 vols., New York, 1904), II, 196.

²¹For further information on Coboway, Celiast, and Solomon H. Smith see sources cited in Thwaites, op. cit., IV, 138, note 1. See also Ethel Abbey Moore, "Solomon Smith Built Missions," in Oregon Journal (Portland), July 24, 1955.

²²Thwaites, op. cit., IV, 139.

²³Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast (2 vols., San Francisco, 1884), II, 60.

²⁴Wheeler, "On the Trail of Lewis and Clark," 59-62; Wheeler, The Trail of Lewis and Clark, II, 194-197; Deposition of Silas B. Smith, Proceedings of the Oregon Historical Society . . . 1900 (Salem, 1900), 20.

²⁵Other members of the party included William Chance of Astoria (he also had been with Wheeler), Mrs. Galloway, a Miss Wiley, and Master Preston Gillette. "In the Footsteps of Lewis and Clark," in Sunday Oregonian (Portland), June 17, 1900, p. 8.

²⁶Proceedings of the Oregon Historical Society...1900, 20-21.

²⁷Reuben Cold Thwaites, "Newly Discovered Personal Records of Lewis and Clark," in Scribner's Magazine, XXXV (June 1904), 685-700.

²⁸Proceedings of the Oregon Historical Society...1900, 18-19.

²⁹Extract from Notes Surveyors, under Contract Clatsop County Historical of Joseph W. and John Trutch, Deputy dated January 19, 1856, typescript, in Society.

³⁰The only part of Gillette's testimony which seems to be open to dispute is his statement that three fruit trees he sold to Franklin Shane were still standing in 1900. In 1949, Mrs. Milton York, who had lived on the fort site as a young girl, said that the two surviving cherry trees then on the property, and which show in the 1899 photographs were planted by her father, Joseph B. Stevenson, between about 1876 and 1881. Clatsop County Vacation News (Supplement to Seaside Signal, Seaside, Ore.), July 7, 1949.

³¹Victor, op. cit., 43; unidentified clipping, evidently dated January 15, 1900, in Oregon Historical Society, Scrapbook 21, p. 42; and survey notes cited in note 29 above. From internal evidence, it would appear that P. W. Gillette was the author of the article, or "letter to the editor," contained in the unidentified clipping in O. H. S., Scrapbook 21.

³²Proceedings of the Oregon Historical Society...1900, 18-19.

³³Ibid., 18-19, 20-21.

³⁴Sunday Oregonian, June 17, 1900, p. 8.

³⁵Sunday Oregonian, June 17, 1900, p. 8.

³⁶Ibid.

³⁷P. W. Gillette, "The Site of Fort Clatsop," in The Pacific Monthly, XII(August 1904), 92-93. The process of driving in the stakes is shown by a photograph which illustrates this article.

³⁸Sunday Oregonian, June 17, 1900, p. 8.

³⁹Astorian-Budget (Astoria, Ore.), February 12, 1948.

⁴⁰Ibid., June 26, 1948.

⁴¹Ibid.; and unidentified clippings in scrapbook of Mr. Walter Johnson, Astoria.

⁴²Louis R. Caywood, "The Exploratory Excavation of Fort Clatsop," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, XLIX (September, 1948), 208.

⁴³See also map in Ibid., 206.

⁴⁴Caywood, op. cit., 209-210. The materials excavated by Mr. Caywood are preserved in the museum of the Clatsop County Historical Society, Astoria.

⁴⁵Paul J. F. Schumacher, Archeological Field Notes, Fort Clatsop, Astoria, Oregon (typewritten report, Region Four, National Park Service, January 22, 1957).

⁴⁶Bernard DeVoto (ed.), The Journals of Lewis and Clark (Boston, 1953), 279.

⁴⁷Patrick Gass, A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery(Pittsburgh, 1808), 238.

⁴⁸Thwaites, op. cit., III, 247-249.

⁴⁹Thwaites, op. cit., III, 270.

⁵⁰Patrick Gass, Gass's Journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Chicago, 1904), 184; Quaife, op. cit., 316.

⁵¹Ordway's journal says there were three lines of huts forming three sides of a square, the other side being walled with pickets. Quaife, op. cit., 317. However, this description does not agree with Clark's diagrams, which would appear to have precedence.

⁵²DeVoto, op. cit., 336.

⁵³This account of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and its stay at Fort Clatsop is based largely upon the original journals already cited in note 1 above. The estimate of the significance of the expedition is based upon the introductions to these works and upon other studies listed in the bibliography at the end of the historical narrative section of this report (see pp. 37-40 below).

⁵⁴Oregon Historical Society, Scrapbook 21, p. 42; Deposition of C. W. Shane, June 15, 1900, in Proceedings of the Oregon Historical Society...1900, 20-21. In 1856 surveyors' notes show that there was a "Shane's House" 5.2 feet west of a point 148.5 feet north of the 1/4 corner between Sections 35 and 36, T.8N., R.10W., W.M. Notes of Joseph W. and John Trutch, typescript, in Clatsop County Historical Society. However, it is not clear if this was the house erected by Shane in 1851 or a later one built by his brother, Franklin. From Shane's deposition one gains the impression that the 1851 house was farther west from the edge of the bluff.

⁵⁵Oath of P. W. Gillette, November 21, 1855; Oath of Charles W. Shane, February 21, 1857, MSS, in Records of Donation Certificate No. 5001, in Land Office, Bureau of Land Management, Portland.

⁵⁶O. H. S., Scrapbook 21, p. 42

⁵⁷Records of Do nation Certificate No. 5001, MSS.

⁵⁸O. H. S., Scrapbook 21, p. 42

⁵⁹Records of Donation Certificate No. 5001, MSS.

⁶⁰O.H.S. Scrapbook 21, p. 42; Proceedings of the Oregon Historical Society . . . 1900, 18-19; Notes of John W. and Joseph Trutch, typescript.

⁶¹Shane had sold the north 1/2 of his claim in 1860, but perhaps it was returned to the estate, because his heirs later sold an undivided half of the full 320 acres and an undivided half of the mineral rights on the full 320 acres. Clatsop County Record of Deeds, vol. 11, p. 672; vol. 12, p. 65.

⁶²Clatsop County Record of Deeds, vol. "C," p. 596; W. H. Smith to O. Wade, Astoria, October 20, 1877, MS, in Records of Donation Certificate No. 5001, MSS.

⁶³Victor, op. cit., 43.

⁶⁴Sunday Oregonian June 17, 1900, p. 8; clipping from Astorian Budget, about July 13 or 14, 1948, in Walter Johnson's Scrapbook.

⁶⁵Ibid.; Clatsop County Vacation News, July 7, 1949, pp. [10-11].

⁶⁶O. H. S., Scrapbook 21, p. 42.

⁶⁷Randall V. Mills, Stern-Wheelers up the Columbia (Palo Alto, California, 1947), 157-159.

⁶⁸Clatsop County Record of Deeds, vol. "E," p. 270.

⁶⁹J. Q. A. Bowlby to F. G. Young, Astoria, October 21, 1905, MS, in O. H. S.; Oregonian, June 27, 1885, p. 3.

⁷⁰Clatsop County Record of Deeds, vol. 12, p. 65.

⁷¹J. R. Smith to R. Livingston, Astoria, January 18, 1902, Typewritten copy, in O. H. S.

⁷²Ibid. There is some indication that the clay deposits in the vicinity may never have been worked on a full-blown commercial scale. See Samuel Geijsbeek, "Clay Deposits of Oregon," in Transactions of the American Ceramic Society, IV (1912), 650.

⁷³Proceedings of the Oregon Historical Society...1899, 26-27.

⁷⁴Unsigned typescript of a speech, dated August 28, 1915, in Oregon Historical Society.

⁷⁵Proceedings of the Oregon Historical Society . . . 1900, 16.

⁷⁶Original Warranty Deed, The American Mortgage Company of Scotland, Limited, to Oregon Historical Society, September 24, 1901, MS, in Oregon Historical Society; John H. Smith to P. Livingston, Astoria, January 18, 1902, typescript copy, in O.H.S.; unidentified newspaper clipping, dated Nay 24, 1901, in O.H.S, Scrapbook 11, p. 20.

⁷⁷A. F. Danielson, Map of the Property of the Oregon Historical Society, Showing Proposed Addition, March, 1926, photostat in O.H.S. The spring to the north of the Oregon Historical Society property is in the trees shown at the extreme left of Photograph B3.

⁷⁸T. C. Elliot to Mrs. Sigmund Frank, Portland, July 31, 1928, typewritten copy, in O. H. S.

⁷⁹Original Warranty Deed, Gladding, McBean & Co. to Oregon Historical Society, May 25, 1928, MS, in O.H.S ; recorded in Clatsop County Record of Deeds, vol. 14, p. 124.

⁸⁰Original Pargain and Sale Deed, Archie Riekkola et ux to Clatsop County Historical Society, February 7, 1955, MS, in Clatsop County Hist. Soc. (not recorded); Original Lease, Clatsop County to Clatsop Historical Society, February 15, 1955, MS, in possession of Mr. Otto A. Owen, Astoria.

⁸¹Acreages are rough estimates only.

⁸²J. H. Smith to R. Livingston, Astoria, January 18, 1902, typescript copy in Oregon Historical Society.

⁸³Stewart Holbrook, "Restoration of Fort Clatsop," in American Forests, August 1955 issue, pp. 30-31, 53.

⁸⁴Richard L. Neuberger, "Monument on the Pacific," in New York Times, November 25, 1956, p. X33.

⁸⁵Interview with Mr. Burnby Bell, Astoria, December 10, 1956; Clatsop County Historical Society, Minutes of Meeting, July 27, 1955.

⁸⁶Interview with Mr. Thomas Vaughan, December 7, 1956; Astorian-Budget, November 7, 29, 1955.

⁸⁷C. A. Stone to George H. Himes, Astoria, February 22, 1905, MS, in O. H. S.

⁸⁸T. C. Elliot to Mrs. Sigmund Frank, Portland, July 31, 1928, MS, in O. H. S.

⁸⁹Astorian-Budget (Astoria), August 5, 1952.

¹⁰Astorian-Budget, August 5, 1952; October 9, 16, November 12, 1953; Oregon Historical Quarterly, LIV(December, 1953), 334; The Oregonian (Portland), November 8, 1953.

¹¹Newspaper clippings, many unidentified and undated, in the scrapbook of Mr. Walter G. Johnson, Astoria; Astorian-Budget, November 19, 1954.

¹²Astorian-Budget, November 7, 9, 29, December 6, 8, 1955; interview with Mr. Thomas Vaughan, December 7, 1956; The Oregonian, August 22, 1955.

⁹³Astorian-Budget, December 8, 1955.

⁹⁴J Q. A. Bowlby to F. G. Young, Astoria, Oct. 21, 1905; Bowlby to G. H. Himes, Astoria, Dec. 27, 1905; Bowlby to Young, Astoria, Dec. 8, 1906, MSS, in Oregon Historical Society.

⁹⁵Arno B. Cammerer to W. H. Nelson, Washington, D. C., June 5, 1937, typescript copy, in Region Four Office, NPS.

¹⁶Unidentified clippings, dated June 20 and 25, 1948, in Scrapbook of Walter Johnson, Astoria.

¹⁷Astorian-Budget, August 5, 1952.

¹⁸Lancaster Pollard to C. E. Lauderdale, et al, Portland, Oct. 20, 1953, typescript copy, in Oregon Historical Society.

⁹⁹Typescript copies in O. H. S.

¹⁰⁰Undated, unidentified newspaper clipping in Scrapbook of Walter Johnson; Astorian-Budget, October 8, l954

¹⁰¹Astorian-Budget, April 4, 1956.