Fort Clatsop Suggested Historic Area Report

A. Name, location, and brief description

Apparently there is no official or established name for the site which is the subject of this report. The area is generally referred to as "Fort Clatsop" or "Site of Old Fort Clatsop." A more convenient designation and one frequently used is "Fort Clatsop Site."

The site is located in Clatsop County, Oregon, near the mouth of the Columbia River. More specifically, it is situated on the west bank of the Lewis and Clark River, 1.8 miles south of its mouth. The site is about 4.5 airline miles southwest of the City of Astoria. The shore of the Pacific Ocean lies 3.5 miles directly west.

The property which has been suggested as a possible national monument consists of three contiguous tracts of publicly or semi-publicly owned land, totaling about 6.7 acres in gross area. The ownerships and areas of these tracts are as follows: 1. Oregon Historical Society, 4.9 acres; 2. Clatsop County, .9 acre; 3. Clatsop County Historical Society, .9 acre. A county road right of way, about .8 acre in extent, traverses the Oregon Historical Society property, thus reducing the area available for historic site purposes to a net of about 5.9 acres.

About three acres of this property form a fairly level plateau about 30 to 35 feet above sea level. The remainder of the area consists largely of rather steeply sloping land which drops away to the swamp adjoining the Lewis and Clark River. Except where the land has been cleared for a parking lot, the area is covered by a fairly dense stand of second-growth forest, composed largely of spruce and alder. The level portion of the property has been kept clear of brush, but the sloping sections are marked by heavy undergrowth.

The property is operated as a historic monument by the Oregon Historical Society, acting in cooperation with the Clatsop County Historical Society. The principal existing improvements consist of an approach road from the county highway which runs through the property, a graveled parking lot, a bronze historical marker, and a full-scale replica of the original log Fort Clatsop. Other facilities include a well, pump, drinking fountain, two pit toilets, and several picnic tables.

B. Synopsis of the history of the site

President Thomas Jefferson's instructions to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark required them to "explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as . . . may offer the most direct . . . communication across this continent." The explorers considered their mission completed when, on a bleak November day in 1805, they saw the broad tidal estuary of the Columbia River from a point on the north bank a short distance above Grays Bay. After visiting the seashore, they crossed to the south side of the Columbia to seek a winter campsite which would be more sheltered from the ocean winds and more abundantly supplied with game. A suitable location was found on the first high ground encountered above the mouth of the present Lewis and Clark River. Here, on December 7, a camp was made.

A small log fort, 50 feet square, was erected and named "Fort Clatsop." The men moved into it on Christmas Day. While waiting here for the coming of spring, they explored the surrounding country, and a detachment was sent to the seacoast to make salt. Lewis and Clark here rewrote their journals and drew several of the maps which were among the most important products of the expedition. On March 23, 1806, the fort was abandoned, and the homeward journey to St. Louis was commenced.

According to tradition, Fort Clatsop was given by Lewis and Clark to a Clatsop Indian chief, by whom it was occupied sporadically until it fell into ruin. Beginning with the arrival of the Astorians on the Columbia in 1811, the site of Fort Clatsop was an object of interest to travelers, and as late as the 1860's it was occasionally visited by sight-seers. The site was included in a donation land claim during the 1850's, and the remains of the post were obliterated by farming operations.

Between 1899 and 1901 there was a renewed interest in the site on the part of historians, and at least two independent attempts were made to establish the exact location. The memories of early settlers in the region formed the basis of these identifications, which were in agreement and which have won general acceptance. The property on which this site stands was acquired by the Oregon Historical Society in 1901, and it has since been operated as a historic monument open to the public.

That the Lewis and Clark Expedition was a dramatic event of far-reaching importance in the history of the United States is well established, although historians do not agree as to the precise extent of the results. Perhaps Bernard DeVoto summed the matter up best when he wrote: "History is not so divisible as to permit us to say exactly how important the Lewis and Clark expedition was in securing Oregon. . . but it gave not only Oregon but the entire West to the American people as something with which the mind could deal."

C. Identification of the site

Summary of conclusions. The identification of the exact site of Fort Clatsop is not based upon documentary evidence contemporaneous with Lewis and Clark's visit to the region nor is it based upon physical remains of the original Fort Clatsop. To date, no physical remains which can be linked definitely with the Lewis and Clark Expedition have been found at the site . Rather, the identification is based upon tradition and upon reminiscences of persons who years earlier had the traditional site pointed out to them.

Nevertheless, the property owned by the Oregon Historical Society in all probability does contain the actual site of Fort Clatsop. This conclusion is based upon the general "tone of credibility" of the reminiscences and their general correspondence with known historical facts, and also upon the fact that certain details of the reminiscences correspond with details given in the Lewis and Clark manuscripts which were unknown to any historians at the time the reminiscences were recorded.

The Lewis and Clark records. The journals and maps made by members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition contain much information which enables one to determine fairly easily the general location of Fort Clatsop. Without any difficulty whatsoever, one learns from the surviving journals that the winter encampment was situated on the west bank of the Netul River (now the Lewis and Clark River) about 2 or 3 miles above its mouth. The site was on the first high ground encountered as the party ascended the river. It was about 30 feet above high tide level and was about 200 yards back from the river near a spring and in a dense stand of "pine" and "balsam fir." The Netul River was about 100 yards wide opposite the camp, and "just above" the spot where the party landed was a "small branch." There were "extensive marshes" at the place of encampment. [1]

Fort Clatsop is indicated on three of the excellent maps drawn by William Clark (see Maps 4, 5 and 6); and the general vicinity of the fort is pictured in considerable detail on a fourth (Map 7) . As do the journals, these maps give a clear idea of the general location of the winter camp, but analyze them as one will, one cannot bring them into exact conformity with present-day topographic maps or, for that matter, with each other. About all one can safely conclude from these maps is that Fort Clatsop was located on the west bank of the Netul River, about 2 or 3 miles above its mouth.

The latitude of Fort Clatsop was estimated by the explorers to be 46° 4' 31.3". [2] Evidently they did not record an estimate of the longitude. This calculation obviously was in error, since the correct figure for the present site is about 46° 8' 40". With such a wide margin of error, it is clear that even if a correction factor were determined for the explorers' observations, their figure could not be of real assistance in pinpointing the exact location of the original fort.

When the information contained in the Lewis and Clark records is compared with conditions in the field, it is not too difficult to identify the general area in which Fort Clatsop was located. As one ascends the Lewis and Clark River, which from Clark's maps can be none other than the stream called the Netul River by the explorers, the first land 30 feet high and within 200 yards of the west bank is encountered about 1.7 miles above the mouth. Here a broad low ridge-- a spur projecting slightly eastward from the hills which are nowhere far to the west--terminates roughly 100 yards from the river's edge. The land between the ridge and the stream is swamp . Near the eastern edge of the ridge are at least two springs, both of which would have been running at the time of year Lewis and Clark were at Fort Clatsop. Present-day, second-growth forest on the land and the historical record both show that this ridge was originally covered with a dense stand of Douglas fir. A small stream enters the river directly south of the ridge.

The points of correspondence are obvious. The identification becomes even more likely when one examines the land farther upstream, or south. Immediately south of the ridge, the high land retreats about a quarter of a mile westward from the river and does not re-approach the stream for nearly half a mile . There the hills approach the river quite closely, but their faces are steep, and they are generally higher than 30 feet. In short, they do not appear inviting as a place for a winter encampment. Therefore, the low ridge which approaches the river between about 1.7 and 1.9 miles from its mouth seems to be the most logical site for the fort.

It must be admitted, however, that there is some evidence in the original records which does not agree with this identification. First, both Clark and Sergeant Ordway say in their journals that Fort Clatsop was 3 miles above the mouth of the river; Sergeant Gass says the distance was "about" 2 miles. The ridge is closer to the Columbia than either of these estimates.

Second, the ridge does not seem to correspond with the location of the fort as shown on any of the Lewis and Clark maps. On at least one of these maps (see Map 6), Clark evidently made an attempt to show the position of the camp in some detail and with care. He pictured it as lying between 2 creeks along a straight section of the river, between 2 bends. The ridge today is directly opposite a conspicuous bend in the river. Also, the creek shown north of the fort by Clark does not particularly resemble in drain age pattern any stream now north of the ridge. On the other hand, the two creeks on the Clark map could be imagined to resemble the two creeks which today are the next two south of the ridge; these two creeks also empty into a fairly straight section of the river, between 2 bends. But, as we have seen, the high ground between these creeks is too far from the river. Therefore, one is forced back to the conclusion that the ridge is the most logical point for the site of Fort Clatsop. After all, streams do change their courses, and it is difficult t to estimate distances when traveling by canoe.

Assuming that Fort Clatsop stood on the top of the ridge about 200 yards from the river, there still remains the problem of pinpointing the exact location. Here the Lewis and Clark records are of practically no help. The crest of the ridge is bisected by a very small and shallow drainage basin, running west to east, in which is a spring which runs during the winter months. South and southwest, between this spring and the south edge of the ridge top, there are two or three acres of almost level ground, anywhere on which the winter encampment conceivably could have been located. If the Lewis and Clark records point to any particular section of the ridge top, it is probably to the area south of the spring, since a "small branch" empties into the river directly south of the ridge, and it is known that such a stream was situated "just above" the fort landing place. Surely the landing place would be as close to the fort as the topography permitted. It is this area south of the spring which is covered by the present historic monument tracts.

But even if it is accepted that the Lewis and Clark records point to the south half of the ridge top as the location, there still is considerable room for speculation as to the exact site. For the solution to this problem one must turn from the written records of the expedition to the realm of tradition and reminiscence.

The site becomes fixed in local tradition. In pinpointing the location of Fort Clatsop, the important fact to bear in mind is that the site was never lost sight of. The place has been an object of interest to travelers, sight-seers, and nearby residents almost from the time Lewis and Clark left it until the present day. As far as is known, none of the persons who visited the site while traces of the fort were still to be seen ever bothered to note the exact location on a large-scale map; nor are the descriptions of the site left by such persons of much value in fixing the location. After all, they were writing of a place whose location was common knowledge. And this knowledge lived on in the minds of the people who had seen the ruins and was transmitted by word of mouth to succeeding generations, until at last it was committed to writing, or at least captured on photographic plates, in 1899 and 1900.

True, tradition sometimes is in error, and word transmitted by mouth over a long period of time has a way of getting warped. In the present case, however, certain internal evidence in the traditional tales gives them a ring of truth which cannot be ignored.

Visitors to Fort Clatsop, 1811-1899. The fact that knowledge of the fort's location remained alive by tradition has not been documented in detail. It comes out only through the accounts left by visitors and in certain reminiscences of pioneer settlers. Therefore, these accounts must be noted at some length.

Maritime traders of both the United States and Great Britain visited the lower Columbia River after the sojourn of Lewis and Clark, as they had before it, but the first permanent settlement was by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company in 1811. By that year the Lewis and Clark Expedition was definitely linked in the minds of the Astorians with the Netul River, which was known to them as "Lewis River." [3] On October 2, 1811, Gabriel Franchere, one of Astor's men, visited Youngs Bay and saw "the ruins of the quarters erected by Captains Lewis and Clarke." He later wrote that the remains "were but piles of rough, unhewn logs, overgrown with parasite creepers." [4]

Another Astorian, Ross Cox, made a trip to Lewis and Clark's wintering place during May or June, 1812, and noted that the "logs of the house were still standing, and marked with the names of several of their party." [5] That the encampment was an object of general interest for the Astorians may be noted from the journal of another of their number, who wrote that on June 29, 1812, that the fort was then "in ruins" and "very disagreeably situated, being surrounded with swamps and quagmires." [6]

Local interest in the site continued even after Astoria was taken over by the British. On December 14, 1813, Alexander Henry, of the North West Company, and Captain Black, of the Royal Navy, made a trip by canoe to the Fort Clatsop landing place, where they found two houses of Clatsop Indians. Henry recorded in his journal: "We walked up to see the old American winter quarters of Captains Lewis and Clark in 1805-06, which are in total ruins, the wood having been cut down and destroyed by the Indians; but the remains are still visible. In the fort are already grown up shoots of willows 25 feet high." [7]

A Congressional committee, reporting on the occupation of the Oregon Country in 1821, noted that according to information then avail able in Washington, the remains of Fort Clatsop were "yet to be seen." [8]

By the 1830's, American settlers were beginning to trickle into the Oregon Country, and a number of them took the time and trouble to visit the place where Lewis and Clark had wintered. The ornithologist, John K. Townsend, while not strictly a settler, was among the visitors who recorded his impressions of the "house" at Fort Clatsop. "The logs of which it is composed," he wrote, "are still perfect, but the roof of bark has disappeared, and the whole vicinity is overgrown with thorn and wild currant bushes." [9] An American missionary who saw the site in 1842 reported that Lewis and Clark's "hut had entirely disappeared," but Indians pointed out to him the trail used by the explorers during their journeys from the fort to the seacoast. [10]

Another settler, James Harrell, who visited the scene of the encampment in 1848 later recalled that he saw the foundations of a single building, about 16 feet by 16 feet and 4 logs high. [11]

The prevailing attitude of visitors toward the site is well reflected by a letter written by George Gibbs, a temporary resident of Astoria, to his mother on April 13, 1853. Speaking of Fort Clatsop, Gibbs wrote: "I took a run the other day up the Lewis & Clark's river as it is called to the place of the w[inter] encampment, which long as I have been here I never visited before. The site of their log hut is still visible, the foundation logs rotting where they lay. Their old trail to the coast is just visible being much overgrown with brush . . . Indians are still living who knew them." [12]

Several years later Gibbs again described his visit to Fort Clatsop. He wrote that the remains were "about" 2 miles from the mouth of the Lewis and Clark River. This remark by a trained and accurate observer tends to confirm the conclusion that the site was at or very near the present historic monument property. [13]

As shall be seen in some detail in a later section of this report, settlers began to move into the Fort Clatsop region during the early 1850's, and the ruins which tradition said were those of the winter encampment were obliterated by agricultural operations. Yet the site continued to be marked, if only in the minds of nearby residents and of persons who had earlier visited it; and travelers continued to make pilgrimages to the spot, although records of such visits seem to become fewer and fewer as the years passed.

For instance, on August 18, 1869, Charles M. Scammon, an officer in the United States Revenue Marine Service and one of the remarkable men of his time on the Pacific Coast, the site and thought it worthwhile to make a sketch of it. [14] A year or two later Mrs. Francis Fuller Victor, making observations for a book of description of the Northwest, believed her readers would be interested in the Lewis and Clark wintering site. "Not only have sixty years effaced all traces of their encampment," she reported, "but a house, which stood on the same site in 1853, has quite disappeared, the site being overgrown with trees now twenty feet in height." [15]

By 1885, however, knowledge of the site was beginning to fade. The traditional location of Fort Clatsop had by that date become the eastern terminus of a stage line leading to the popular resort at Seaside. Here passengers by boat from Portland and Astoria debarked and transferred to land conveyance. The Portland Oregonian felt it necessary to point out that the transfer point was historic ground. "It will be news to many readers of THE OREGONIAN, including pioneers," said an editorial in the issue of June 27, 1885, "to know that this landing is the first spot in Oregon where white men camped." The paper went on to say that the site of Fort Clatsop could "still be distinguished by trenches," an observation which probably was not in accord with fact. [16]

These examples will amply serve to demonstrate that certain remains of log structures located on the west bank of the Lewis and Clark River were early identified by pioneer residents of the area, evidently through testimony of the Indians and from what little had appeared in print about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, as the ruins of Fort Clatsop. These remains continued to be pointed out as those of the winter encampment until all trace of them disappeared; and thereafter knowledge of their location was kept alive in the minds of the who had seen the ruins and was transmitted to others, largely by word of mouth.

It was not without some reason, therefore, that the great editor and historian, those Coues, wrote in about 1892 that the site of Fort Clatsop "was fixed with absolute precision" at an early date, "of course became historical, and has been marked on most maps ever since." He even went so far as to say that "the present aspect of the place is better known than what might be discovered by digging in the right spot." [17] Subsequent events were to prove that the matter was not quite as simple to everyone else as it was to Mr. Coues.

Identification by O. D. Wheeler, 1899. Such was the state of knowledge concerning the location of the Fort Clatsop site toward the end of the last century, when Olin D. Wheeler, a writer and publicity man for the Northern Pacific Railway, began his monumental task of retracing the routes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In due course his searches brought him face to face with the problem of fixing the location of the winter encampment on the Netul River. Wheeler does not state what research he performed or what evidence he marshaled to lead him to the exact spot, but the inference to be drawn from his narratives is that his method of identification was simple and direct: he organized a party of local historians and old-time residents of the vicinity and went where they told him to go. They guided him to the traditional site known since the days of the Astorians.

Wheeler's visit was made during 1899. Evidently the exact date was August 30. [18] The composition of his party is of interest. Included were William Chance, Judge J. Q. A. Bowlby, George W. Lounsberry, and George Noland, all of Astoria and vicinity; Silas B. Smith, of Warrenton; George H. Himes, representing the Oregon Historical Society of Portland; and, by no means least, George M. Weister, a "landscape photographer" of Portland. "Several of these were old residents," said Wheeler "and thoroughly familiar with the early history of the region." [19]

When the party reached the spot which was pointed out as the site of Fort Clatsop, Wheeler noted that there was "nothing to indicate it except Lewis and Clark's own description as to its location." Nevertheless, he felt there was, "evidently, no question as to the point we visited being the identical spot where the fort stood," since "the opinion of those among the party who were old residents and familiar with the subject and with the locality, was unanimous upon this point." [20]

In accepting this identification, Wheeler seemingly was much impressed by the testimony of Silas B. Smith, a well-educated, middle-aged, practicing attorney from the nearby town of Warrenton. Smith was the grandson of Coboway, or Comowoll, as the name appears in the Lewis and Clark Journals, the chief of the Clatsop Indians at the time of the expedition's stay on the Netul. Coboway's second daughter, Celiast, or Helen, married Solomon M. Smith, and together the played an honorable part in Oregon history. Silas B. Smith was their son. [21]

Silas Smith told Wheeler a traditional family story to the effect that when Lewis and Clark abandoned Fort Clatsop on March 23, 1806, they gave the structure and its furniture to Chief Coboway. Apparently there is nowhere in the original records of the expedition any direct corroboration of this story, but it is certainly a probable one, since the explorers were very fond of Coboway, calling him "the most friendly and decent Indian that we have met with in this neighborhood." [22] And the story is an old one in the history of the lower Columbia, having appeared in print at least as early as 1884. [23] Smith's account has every appearance of an accurate one told by an honorable man.

According to Smith, his mother, who lived until 1891 frequently maintained that she remembered the time of Lewis and Clark's arrival and that Fort Clatsop was occupied by Coboway and his family during the hunting season for 10 or 15 years after 1806. "Mother said," added Smith, "that in one of the houses they used was a large stump of a tree, which had been cut smooth and which was used as a table." Smith disclaimed having seen any of the fort structures personally, but he professed knowledge of their location from the accounts of his mother and from statements made by other Indians. [24]

Rather strangely, having once established the site of Fort Clatsop to the satisfaction of all assembled, Wheeler did not bother to write down a sufficiently detailed description of it so that it could be identified by other persons coming later. Evidently he, too, saw no necessity of recording a fact which was so generally known. Thus, if it had not been for the presence of Mr. Weister, the "landscape photographer," no more would be known today about the location established by Wheeler than is known about the site of the traditional ruins visited by so many early travelers.

Fortunately, Weister made a series of photographs of the site. Three of the best of these are reproduced in the present report (see Photographs C1, C2, C3). A comparison of these views with the scene today at the tract owned by the Oregon Historical Society, clearly reveals that the site identified by Wheeler is within the present historic monument property (compare Photographs C1 and B4, C2 and B11, C3 and A8) . The general configuration of the land, the views seen from the site, and in particular, two cherry trees shown in the 1899 photographs which still stand today, permit no doubt of this fact.

However, the Weister views fail to reveal the exact spot which the Wheeler party identified as the location of the former ruins. In two of the photographs (Photographs C1 and C2), members of the party are shown standing in positions which obviously are meant to convey some information, but exactly what information is not clear. In one of these views (Photograph C2) particularly, the figures evidently are outlining the position of the supposed stockade, but seemingly the fort thus depicted is quite a bit larger than the known 50 feet by 50 feet dimensions of Fort Clatsop. As a matter of fact, in 1899 the exact size of the winter quarters was not known by historians, and thus the Wheeler party was guessing. Where, within the quadrangle outlined by the members, the ruins traditionally stood is not apparent from the available records of the Wheeler visit.

Identification by Oregon Historical Society, 1900. Late in 1899 the Oregon Historical Society resolved to identify the site of Fort Clatsop for the purpose of erecting a monument thereon. As a result, two members of the Society's Committee on Memorials, L. B. Cox and William Galloway, visited the traditional locations on June 8, 1900. With them was a small group of early settlers who knew the vicinity well. They were Silas B. Smith of Warrenton, who had assisted Wheeler the previous year; Preston W. Gillette, a "well-known pioneer," formerly of Clatsop County; and Carlos W. Shane of Vancouver, who once had lived on the fort site. [25] Reaching the old Seaside landing by boat, the party, guided by Shane and Gillette, climbed up to the benchland above--where Wheeler had marked out his conjectural fort outline--and began to look for familiar landmarks.

Shane's testimony. Although Gillette later claimed the larger the credit for identifying the site, Carlos W. Shane probably gave the most telling evidence. In a deposition made a week later, Shane recounted the facts he must have presented on the ground:

I came to Oregon in 1846, and in 1850 I located a donation land claim on a tract of land which included the site of Fort Clatsop; I built a house on the land in 1851 and occupied it until 1853. A few feet from where I built my house there were at that time the remains of two of the Lewis and Clark cabins . They lay east and west, parallel with each other; and ten or fifteen feet apart. Each cabin was sixteen by thirty feet; Three rounds of the south cabin and two rounds of the north cabin were then standing. In the south cabin stood the remains of a large stump. The location of the old stockade was indicated by second growth timber, while all around it was the original growth, or the stumps of trees which had been cut. In clearing away for my house I set fire to the remains of the old cabins and endeavored to burn them.

My house has long since disappeared but I identify its site from the topography of the ground, from the sloping bank to the river toward the east, and especially from the circumstance of my having cut a large tree at the top of the bank which narrowly missed falling on the house and just reached its rear. I remember approximately the height of this tree and the spot on which it stood.

I assisted Gillette in locating the south-west corner of the tract which was staked off on this visit, and believe that the stake driven there represents very closely, if not absolutely, the southwest corner of the south cabin, and this appeared to be the southwest corner of the stockade. [26]

This deposition has a ring of truth. As will be seen in another section of this report, Shane did locate a land claim covering the present historical monument property in or about 1850, and he held it until August or October, 1852, when he transferred it to his brother.

The most remarkable part of the testimony, however, is Shane's description of the ruins of the Lewis and Clark cabins. As far as the present investigator has been able to determine, there were available in 1900 no printed descriptions which would indicate that Fort Clatsop was made up of two parallel cabins, each about 50 feet long and 16 to 14 feet wide, containing a total of 7 rooms, and separated by a parade ground 20 feet wide. The accounts then known to the public spoke only of 7 huts or houses and of pickets and gates, permitting historians to gain the impression that Fort Clatsop consisted of a group of cabins surrounded by a stockade.

The two rough plans of the fort drawn by William Clark, which provide the only known information concerning the actual dimensions and arrangement of the post, are included in one of Clark's pocket fieldbooks which was not examined by any scholar until Reuben Cold Thwaites saw it in the possession of Mrs. Julia Clark Voorhis of New York in 1903. Evidently the first printing of one of these plans was in the June, 1904 issue of Scribner's Magazine. [27]

Therefore, Shane's description of the Lewis and Clark cabins as being parallel structures, 16 by 30 feet, and 15 feet apart, must have been based upon independent observation, and keen observation also, to have been remembered so well after about 49 years. In the opinion of the present writer, Shane's testimony upon this point constitutes practically clinching evidence that the ruins which had been identified by tradition since 1811 as those of Fort Clatsop were indeed correctly designated.

It is also to be noted that Shane's mention of a large stump being in the south cabin corroborates the information which Silas B. Smith had received from his Indian mother. Since Shane and Smith had a chance to compare notes before the making of the deposition, however, this part of the testimony may not represent a strictly independent observation. The fact that Shane joined with other members of the party in believing that the cabins had been surrounded by a larger palisaded enclosure only seems to reinforce the view that he and his companions had no knowledge of the Clark ground plans.

Gillette's testimony. On June 16, 1900, Preston W. Gillette made a deposition which contained the information he was able to contribute during the process of identifying the site. Gillette was a pioneer of 1852, and in 1853 he had located a donation land claim about 1-1/2 miles upstream from the traditional Fort Clatsop site. He continued to live in Clatsop County until 1867 and visited the fort site many times . The most important part of Gillette's testimony is as follows:

In October, 1853, . . . I visited the site of Fort Clatsop and saw a section of two logs, each eight or ten feet long, crossed at right angles, which had manifestly been the foundation logs of one of the Lewis and Clark cabins. The ends of the logs were charred, showing that they had been burned. The extent of the stockade was shown by the fact that its site was covered with second growth timber, while all around it stood the trees of the original growth, or the stumps of such as had been cut. Carlos W. Shane sold his place to his brother, Frankland Shane, in 1853, and the latter was occupying it at the time of my visit. I sold Frank Shane some fruit trees, which he planted in the rear of his house. Three of those trees are now standing. Richard M. Moore had in the year 1852 located a donation land claim just south of Carlos W. Shane's and built a house a few feet south of the division line, almost on a line with and but a short distance from the Shane house. This house has since disappeared, but it stood immediately at the head of a little draw in the hill leading down to the river, which draw is now plainly to be seen . . . . When I first knew this spot the trail cut by Lewis and Clark through the timber to the ocean was plainly visible, it having been kept open by the Indians and elk, and it continued as a traveled passage for some fifteen years after my arrival in the county. [28]

The manner in which Gillette's testimony supports that of Shane, particularly in regard to the latter's statement that he "endeavored" to burn the remains of the old cabins, is obvious. In fact, one might almost suspect that these two old neighbors collaborated in their accounts were it not for the fact that Gillette's story has some remarkable and independent confirmation.

In the first place, as has been seen above, the fort site was also visited in 1853 by George Gibbs. The striking similarity between Gibbs's description of the spot, from the logs "rotting where they lay" to the mention of the explorers' trail to the coast, and Shane's is apparent. Also, as will be detailed in a later section of this report, Carlos Shane did transfer his claim to his brother Franklin, evidently late in 1852; and Richard M. Moore did have a claim south of Shane's. Furthermore, the field notes of a survey made in 1856 conclusively prove that both "Shane" and "Moore," in 1856 at least, had residences at the edge of the benchland overlooking the river. [29] It must be concluded, therefore, that Gillette was a reliable, and independent, witness. [30]

Incidentally, Gillette's mention of R. M. Moore calls to mind another bit of evidence which tends to confirm the conclusion that the present historic monument property does contain the site of Fort Clatsop. According to a rather well-known tradition which appeared in print at least as early as 1872, a sawmill occupied the fort site or its vicinity in 1853. One account of the mill is more specific, saying that it was built by R. M. Moore about 1852 and was located on the "old Lewis and Clark landing place." The 1856 surveyors' field notes mentioned above refer to "Moore's Mill" and permit the pinpointing of its location. It was situated on the west bank of the Lewis and Clark River, about 240 feet east-southeast of the southeastern corner of the present Oregon Historical Society property. About 65 feet south of the mill was a "slough," evidently the small "branch" of the Lewis and Clark journals. The confirmation thus given to the old tradition lends strength to the traditional identification of the site. [31]

Marking the site. Under the direction of Shane and Gillette-- who were guided by their memories of the location of the fort ruins and of the Shane and Moore houses, and by the relationships of these sites to each other, and by the topography--the Oregon Historical Society committee established what they believed to be the "southwest corner of the southern cabin." This point, testified Gillette, "very closely, if not exactly, marks the corner of the cabin whose remains I saw in 1853." [32] The committee marked this point by driving in a stake.

Shane and Gillette were convinced that this point not only marked the southwest corner of the Lewis and Clark cabins but also the southwest corner of an extensive stockade, enclosing more than 1/2 acre of ground. Their conclusion was based upon their remembrance of the extent of a patch of second-growth timber which existed at the fort site when they first saw it in the early 1850's. All around this cleared area stood the virgin forest or at least the stumps of a virgin forest which had been recently cut to feed the nearby lumber mill. [33]

The committee agreed with this conclusion and set out to locate the remaining three corners of the fort. L. B. Cox freely admitted at the time that the lines of the stockade were "established by conjecture only." [34]

About 200 feet north of the already established southwest corner was a "small spring branch," and the committee believed it "perfectly rational" to conclude that Lewis and Clark had taken this source of water within the stockade. "A point was consequently established just across this stream ," Cox later reported, "and the line was projected 120 feet, or thereabouts, towards the river, reaching the top of the incline." [35] If these words constitute a clear and comprehensible description of the procedure followed in establishing the other three corners, that fact is not apparent to the present investigator.

At any rate, four corners were fixed to the satisfaction of the committee. "It is quite certain," Cox said, "that no more definite delineation of the limits of the stockade is now obtainable." Stakes were placed at the supposed stockade corners, and an iron pipe was driven into the ground in the center of the area thus delimited. [36] The committee started homeward firmly convinced that the site of Fort Clatsop had been "fixed for all time" and so well marked as to "permit no future doubt" as to the exact location. [37] The next year the Oregon Historical Society purchased a 3-acre tract of land which contained most of the stockade site delimited by its committee.

Years of doubt. Unfortunately, the Oregon Historical Society did not send a surveyor along with its committee, and thus the exact locations of the stakes set in 1900 apparently were not recorded. As the years passed, knowledge of the positions of the stakes faded, until today no one can be found, evidently, who is able to point them out. Probably the entire marking project was somewhat discredited when the Clark ground plans became available in 1904, and it was discovered that Fort Clatsop had been only 50 feet square!

Yet, knowledge of the positions of any of those stakes would be helpful today, if only to assist in determining the location of the all-important one--the one which was placed at the southwest corner of the ruined cabins seen by Shane. The most definite information presently available, seemingly, is that the northeast corner stake was near "t he ragged trunk of a spruce tree, limbless, barkless and crownless." [38] Perhaps this is the dead tree which shows in two of the 1899 photographs (see Photographs C1 and C3). An analysis of these and other pictures of the site, including some taken during the committee's visit, reveals the general location as being about where Wheeler fixed it, but it does not permit the pinpointing of the site of the ruins.

The Oregon Historical Society first placed a historical marker at the Fort Clatsop Site in 1912. Although the records of this event conveniently available today are sketchy, the presumption is that this marker was placed on or near the location of the cabins as pointed out by Shane in 1900. Definite proof as to this point seems to be lacking, however. Likewise, the presumption is that the bronze marker at the site today is in the 1912 location, despite the fact that it has been stolen and re-erected more than once. Here again, positive, written testimony seems to be lacking.

Eventually, the Oregon Historical Society itself came to have doubts as to exactly where the fort was situated. Early in 1948, Mr. Lancaster Pollard, then Superintendent of the Society, announced that a motion picture company was "considering" the construction of a replica of Fort Clatsop on the original site and that the Society might eventually attempt to determine precisely where the encampment stood. [39]

A few months later the Astorian-Budget, in an editorial, went even farther, saying, at the present fort marker was located by guess, and that the actual site may be a quarter-mile or more away." [40] At about that same time the Clatsop County Historical Society made a determined, but unsuccessful attempt to fix the site through the use of a mine detector and the analysis of old surveyors' records and early photographs. [41]

Archeological explorations. Evidently as part of this same general search, Mr. Pollard requested the assistance of the National Park Service in making an archeological reconnaissance of the Oregon Historical Society's property at Fort Clatsop; Mr. Louis R. Caywood, Archeologist on the Service's Region Four staff, was given permission to cooperate with the Society in this project, and excavations were made during the period July 9-17, 1948. The objectives of the work are clearly stated by Mr. Caywood in his printed account of the project: "The site of the fort has been determined approximately for many years . . . . The problem was to definitely determine whether or not there was [physical] evidence of the old fort on the site." [42]

Due to the limited time and labor available, Mr. Caywood was able to excavate only a relatively small area, his trenches and test pits being concentrated in the benchland section east and north of the historical marker (see Map 9). [43] At that time it was rather generally believed by officers of the Society and by local historians that the most likely place to search for the fort remains was in this extreme northeast section of the plateau within the Oregon Historical Society property. Mr. Caywood was advised that this area probably was the fort site, and in fact it is so designated to this date by a sign which stands at his still unfilled excavations.

Mr. Caywood did not find any structural evidence of the fort, but at a depth of about 10 inches he came across such evidences of human occupation as fire pits, charcoal, a "barbecue" pit, pieces of wood showing marks made by metal tools, animal bones, and burnt stones. After analyzing this material, he stated: "evidence is positive that white men at one time occupied this site"; and "it can be safely stated that the excavations were done on the Lewis and Clark site of Fort Clatsop." [44]

Certainly one cannot quarrel with the first of these conclusions in view of the known long record of occupation of the property by white settlers from about 1850 to at least 1881; and the second conclusion is also probably true in a general way, since, as has been amply demonstrated from the historical record, there is little doubt but that Fort Clatsop was somewhere on the benchland where he dug. However, a re-analysis of the evidence uncovered by Mr. Caywood leads the present investigator to the conclusion that there is as yet no positive proof that the materials found had any association with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It is not impossible, however, that further excavations will uncover evidence which will permit such an association to be demonstrated.

In connection with the present investigation as to the advisability of making the Fort Clatsop site a national monument, a second archeological exploration was made on the Oregon Historical Society property by the National Park Service. This work wad con ducted by Mr. Paul J. F. Schumacher, Archeologist in the Region Four Office, during the period December 2-8, 1956. The primary objective was to find physical remains which would settle all doubts as to whether or not Fort Clatsop stood on the site under investigation. Also, if found, such remains would be of inestimable value in planning any developments which might be recommended for the property.

Assisted by an efficient labor crew, Mr. Schumacher excavated an extensive area north and east of the historical marker (see Map 9). This section was chosen largely because of the tradition surviving from the period of Mr. Caywood's dig that it was the most logical location for the encampment. After considerable trenching here failed to produce positive results, operations were shifted to a location southwest of the marker. Although there was only a limited time available for work here, enough artifacts were recovered to indicate that this latter area was the site, or was very close to the site, of the farmhouse shown in the 1899 photographs. No evidence assignable to the Lewis and Clark Expedition was found at either locality. [45]

Conclusions concerning identification of site. An analysis of such clues to the location of Fort Clatsop as are given in the original records of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, a study of the long local tradition as to the location of the fort site, and an examination of the available reminiscences and testimony of pioneer settlers who saw the traditional ruins of the fort and pointed out their location--all these lead to the conclusion that in all probability Fort Clatsop stood somewhere within the 3-acre tract purchased by the Oregon Historical Society in 1901.

This conclusion is based upon the following factors:

a. There is substantial agreement--or at least no major disagreement--among all these classes of evidence as to the genera location of the fort site.

b. The accounts of Shane and Gillette, who pointed out the exact location of the ruins to the members of the Oregon Historical Society, show every evidence of being accurate and based on independent observation.

c. The Oregon Historical Society purchased the 3-acre tract specifically to include the site pointed out by Shane and Gillette, and there is no reason to believe that this objective was not accomplished.

However, since 1901 knowledge of the exact location pointed out by Shane and Gillette seems to have been lost. As far as anyone can prove today, the 50-foot square of the fort could have been located almost anywhere on the approximately 1-1/4 acres of benchland within the tract boundaries.

Apparently the only way that the exact site of Fort Clatsop will be determined is by finding some physical remains of the structure. Although the ground on the top of the bluff has been much disturbed by long years of land clearing, agriculture, and domestic habitation, experience at many other frontier post sites has proved that the buried ends of stockade pickets will nearly always survive such treatment. There is hope, therefore, that the actual remains of Fort Clatsop may yet be discovered. To this end, the National Park Service plans to make one additional archeological exploration at Fort Clatsop before concluding the present study.

D. Historical narrative and bibliography

Significance of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The journey of Lewis and Clark and their companions from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean and back again during 1804-1806 is one of the best known and most dramatic events in the history of the United States. Its results were many and far-reaching. It marked the first journey across the North American Continent between the Spanish possessions on the south and British Canada on the north. It strengthened the American claim to the Oregon Country. It directly stimulated American fur traders, such as John Jacob Astor, to push operations into the Far West. It made available a great deal of geographical, scientific, and ethnographic information about a vast area hitherto entirely unknown. In so doing, it gave residents of the United States something concrete with which their minds could deal, towards which they could turn their plans of trade, settlement, and expansion.

Not least, the expedition gave the expansion of the American frontier one of its greatest epics. The skill, perseverance, tact, and calm determination shown in overcoming almost overwhelming difficulties encountered in crossing thousands of miles of hostile wilderness have served to inspire generations of Americans. Its impact on the American mind and imagination is amply demonstrated by the way travelers to the Columbia River area, as early as 1811, went considerable distances out of their way merely to see where Lewis and Clark had wintered at Fort Clatsop.

Yet, historians have found it difficult to assess the contributions made by the expedition. History is not a science which may be studied by controlled experiments. Events cannot be repeated, leaving out one factor, to determine what would have happened originally had that factor not been present. And, in the case of Lewis and Clark, the problem is made even more difficult by the fact that the information they brought back was so long in reaching the public.

The consensus remains, however, that the Lewis and Clark Expedition was an event of major significance in the history of the United States. In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, it was "all that an exploration ever should be."

Overland to the Pacific. The problem of finding an easy route--preferably by water--across the North American continent was one which had occupied many persons since the time of Columbus. Thomas Jefferson was intrigued by the possibilities of such a discovery, and for 20 years prior to 1803 the exploration of a new track westward to the Pacific from the Mississippi River had been in his mind; Several times he had encouraged persons to undertake the task, but all such projects were premature.

After the turn of the century, however, reports that British fur-trading interests were planning to expand operations overland to the Pacific made action by the United States more urgent. As President, Jefferson was in a position to act. On January 18, 1803, he sent a private message to Congress urging the development of trade with the Indians of the Missouri Valley and requesting an appropriation for a journey of discovery to the Pacific to investigate the possibilities of commerce, to gather scientific knowledge, and to learn something of the far western Indians. A meager $2500 was granted.

The command of the expedition was given to Captain Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson's private secretary. Lewis associated his old friend and army comrade, Lieutenant William Clark, in the leadership; and the names of the joint commanders have ever since been linked in fame.

Instructions issued to Lewis by Jefferson on June 30, 1803, outline the purposes of the expedition, chief of which was "to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it's course & communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purpose of commerce." Particular care was to be taken to record all scientific and geographical facts observed during the journey.

Before Lewis left Washington, news was received of the purchase of Louisiana from France. This event obviated the delays, uncertainties, and even dissimulations which would have been necessary for travel through foreign territory.

The party was assembled and trained in frontier techniques during the winter of 1803-1804 in Illinois, across the Mississippi from St. Louis. The men were enlisted personnel of the United States Army, and only the fact that their pay and subsistence were thus provided enabled the expedition to keep costs within its small appropriation.

In the spring of 1804 Lewis was called to St. Louis to assist in the ceremony of transfer of Upper Louisiana to the United States . Meanwhile, Clark brought the men and equipment across the river to St. Charles, where Lewis joined them. From the latter point the expedition set out on May 21, 1804, in a keelboat and two pirogues up the Missouri. That season they reached the Mandan villages near the present Bismark, North Dakota, and there they erected a log fort and went into camp for the winter.

Having sent back the keelboat and part of the company, the real expedition got under way from Fort Mandan on April 7, 1805. The party consisted of the 2 leaders; 26 enlisted men; 2 interpreters; Clark's Negro servant, York; the interpreter Charbonneau's Indian wife, Sacajawea; and her infant son--33 in all.

The Missouri and its Jefferson Fork were ascended to the Rocky Mountains. When the end of navigation was reached in August, the company was able to obtain horses and a guide from the Shoshone Indians. With this assistance, the party succeeded in crossing the divide to the upper waters of the Clearwater River. Following down that stream, the Snake, and the Columbia, the company, traveling once again by water, on November 7, 1805, reached a point on the north bank of the Columbia near the present Altoona, Washington. Here the men thought they could see the Pacific Ocean in the distance.

"Great joy in camp we are in view of the Ocian, this great Pacific Octean which we been so long anxious to See," wrote Clark in his journal. [46] The reaction of the men, as recorded in the diaries, leaves no doubt but that they considered that the main object of their journey had been accomplished at this spot.

However, they later realized that what they had seen was not actually the ocean but the estuary of the Columbia River. Their first actual view of the ocean came on November 15, from the expedition's camp near the present town of McGowan, Washington. During the next day or two Sergeant Patrick Gass recorded in his journal, "We are now at the end of our voyage, which has been completely accomplished." [47]

Lewis and Clark and a number of the men walked from the camp down to the ocean near Cape Disappointment, but there is every indication that this action was considered anticlimactic. The men had already concluded that they had reached the Pacific.

The camp near McGowan was exposed to the full force of the sea winds, and game was scarce in the neighborhood. The leaders had hoped to meet a trading ship at the mouth of the Columbia from which their supply of trade goods could be replenished for the homeward journey, but the uncomfortable condition of their party--wet, out of provisions, clothes worn and rotted--made it necessary for them to think of turning inland. Hearing from the Indians that conditions were better on the south side of the river and knowing that a location near the coast there would be convenient for making salt, which was badly needed, the company, by a vote, decided to seek a suitable camp there. If none should be found after a reasonable search, the plan was to start the return journey at least as far as the Mount Hood area, living off the country as conditions best permitted. [48]

Location for winter quarters. The company crossed to the south bank of the Columbia and started downstream. High waves and stormy weather made progress difficult, and the party was halted at the present Tongue Point. Captain Lewis and a few companions went ahead to scout, and on December 5 the leader returned to announce that he had found "a good situation and Elk sufficient to winter on" by a small river a short distance to the west. Two days later the main party moved to this location. Clark described the place as follows in his journal:

We assended a river which falls in on the South Side of this Bay [the present Youngs Bay] 3 miles to the first point of high land on the West Side, the place Capt. Lewis had viewed and formed in a thick groth of pine about 200 yards from the river, this situation is on a rise about 30 feet higher than the high tides leavel and thickly Covered with lofty pine. [49]

Gass and Ordway in their journals contribute the information that the Netul River--the Indian name for the stream on which they camped--was about 100 yards wide opposite the new site; and Gass contradicted Clark by saying that the location was only 2 miles above the mouth of the river. He adds that the men carried their luggage to a spring, where they made camp. [50]

Building Fort Clatsop. Cutting trees and clearing the site for the proposed fort began almost at once, surely by December 9; and by the evening of the 10th foundations were laid for the "huts." The raising of the walls began on the 11th. The log work for the cabins was completed on December 14th, and the men began to roof one room, for a "meat house," with split puncheons 10 feet long, 2 feet wide, and about 1-1/2 inches thick.

The roofing of all the rooms was completed by December 24. The walls were daubed or "chinked" with mud, and the rooms had puncheon floors. Living quarters were equipped with puncheon bunks. The captains moved into their still unfurnished rooms on December 23. Some of the men moved into the new quarters on Christmas Eve, and all were under cover to celebrate Christmas.

The men were glad to get in out of the rain, but they soon found themselves uncomfortable again--their fires smoked "verry bad." Only the officers' rooms had chimneys originally, so the men set to work putting "backs and enside chimneys" in the living quarters . Other touches of comfort were "a wide slab hued to write on" for each of the officers "and a table and two seats" for their use. Mats of "rushes and flags" were purchased from the Indians.

Following Christmas, the journals indicate that the men began to erect pickets and gates. There were two gates, a main gate which was locked at night and a water gate which could be used by the garrison at any hour, though at night it was opened and closed by the sentinel.

The fort was considered completed on the evening of December 30, although the next day a sentinel box was built and 2 "sinks" were dug. The new structure was named "Fort Clatsop" after the Clatsop Indians who inhabited the neighborhood.

The Lewis and Clark journals do not contain a description of the post, but two ground plans--which do not entirely agree--drawn by Clark give quite a detailed idea of it. [51] According to these diagrams the post was 50 feet square. One side was formed by a cabin containing three rooms, each with what seems to be a central fire- place. These were the quarters for the men. The opposite side of the square was formed by another long cabin containing four rooms, two (or possibly three) with fireplaces and one with an outside chimney. Two of these rooms were the officers' quarters, and one was the "meat house." The latter had a fireplace and a door with a lock. The officers' rooms, at least, had windows. The space between the two cabins formed a parade ground 20 feet wide and 48 feet long. The ends of the parade were closed by pickets, and the main gate was in the center of one wall, evidently that facing south (see Maps 7 and 8).

Winter at Fort Clatsop. After moving into their new quarters, the members of the company spent three miserable additional months in the lower Columbia region. They were plagued by rain, sickness, and fleas. Hunting merely to get food to keep alive took up a consider able portion of the time. A small party was sent over to the coast, to the site of the present Seaside, to boil ocean water to make salt. Several expeditions went out to explore the surrounding country, notably one headed by Clark which visited the coast south of Tillamook Head. Perhaps the most important activity undertaken during this period was the reworking of the journals by the leaders, and the preparation of organized accounts of the scientific data gathered thus far during the journey. Here also Clark prepared many of the maps which were among the most significant contributions of the expedition.

Yet, as Clark admitted in his journal, the stay at Clatsop was not without its better side. "At this place," he wrote on the day of the expedition's departure, "we . . . have lived as well as we had any right to expect, and we can say that we were never one day without 3 meals of some kind a day either pore Elk meat or roots, notwithstanding the repeated fall of rain which has fallen almost constantly since we passed the long narrows." [52]

Return journey. At one o'clock on the afternoon of May 23, 1806, the men pushed their canoes away from the Fort Clatsop landing place and started their trip home. The route was up the Columbia, the Snake, and the Clearwater drainage to the Rockies. Continuing eastward, the party was divided, so that both the Missouri and the Yellowstone were descended. The company was reunited near the junction of these streams, and the Missouri was rapidly descended. St. Louis was reached on September 23, 1806. The great adventure was ended. [53]

History of Fort Clatsop, 1806-1849. As has already been seen, there is a tradition, apparently well-founded, to the effect that Lewis and Clark, upon their departure from Fort Clatsop, gave the structure and its furniture to Coboway, or Comowoll, the Clatsop chief who had been so friendly and helpful to the party. According to Coboway's descendants, the chief occupied the fort during the hunting season for 10 or 15 years after the expedition's departure.

We have also examined in considerable detail the manner in which, as early as 1811 when the remains of the fort were in fairly good condition and when Indians who had seen it occupied by the expedition were still available to point out its location, the fort developed into an object of interest to travelers and early Oregon Country settlers and was frequently visited. By this means knowledge of its location became fairly widespread and was passed on from generation to generation.

Occupation of the site, 1849-1901. After the Oregon Country was acquired by the United States in 1846, settlement of the area about the mouth of the Columbia moved at an accelerated rate. S. M. Henell, of Astoria, was impressed with the potential value of the traditional site of Fort Clatsop, and in 1849 he put a man on the property to make improvements, intending to establish a claim on the land. The next year, however, Thomas Scott "jumped" the property and established a claim to it under the Donation Act.

Scott held the site for a short time and then traded it to Carlos W. Shane for another piece of land. Shane, a pioneer of 1846, later stated that his claim to the property dated from 1850. He built a house "a few feet" from the ruins of Fort Clatsop in 1851 and occupied it until 1852 or 1853. [54]

Shane's brother, Franklin D. Shane, and his brother's wife, Rachel Ada, moved onto the property in August or October, 1852, and about that time Carlos transferred his claim to Franklin and took up another tract farther up the river. [55]

In 1852 Richard M. Moore came to the Fort Clatsop vicinity with the intention of building a large steam sawmill. The place he desired for the mill was the site of the old Lewis and Clark landing, but this spot was already claimed by Carlos W. Shane. According to a newspaper account of 1900, the two men came to an agreement, and the lines of the Shane claim were moved north to give Moore the site he wanted. [56]

Apparently there is confirmation of this account. In 1855 Franklin Shane filed legal notice of his claim, saying that the southern boundary touched the west bank of the Lewis and Clark River at a point about 200 yards "below" Moore' s mill. Since the location of the mill is known, the boundary, if "below" means "downstream" (i.e. north), was very close to the 1/4 corner between Sections 35 and 36, T.8N., R.10W., W.M. [57] Further confirmation of this boundary is found in Gillette's deposition of June 16, 1900, in which he said that Moore built a house on the benchland a few feet south of the division line. The surveyors' notes of 1856 show that "Moore's House" was about 66 feet south and about 197 feet west of the 1/4 corner.

At any rate, the mill was built, and the vicinity of Fort Clatsop soon became quite a lively settlement, "with 35 or 40 people, all busy clearing land, cutting sawlogs, sawing lumber, etc." For 2 or 3 years there was hardly a week that did not find one or more ships there, loading lumber for San Francisco. One witness said that he had seen 5 ships there at one time. In 1853 the Fort Clatsop precinct is said to have polled 56 votes. However, in 1854 the price of lumber dropped, and milling became so unprofitable that the mill closed down. This event and the Indian Wars of 1855 drove people away, and by 1856 there was "only one inhabitant in the entire precinct." [58] By about 1870 all trace of the mill had disappeared except a great pile of sawdust and some foundation timbers.

Evidently Moore abandoned his claim after the mill closed, because in July, 1857, when Franklin Shane filed a new notification for his own claim, the southern boundary had been moved southward again to 676.5 feet south of the 1/4 corner. The Shane claim once more included the traditional site of the Lewis and Clark landing place. And the southern boundary remained essentially in this position when Donation Certificate No. 5001 was finally issued for Shane's 320.5 acres on October 30, 1877. [59] The Shane Claim (Donation Land Claim 56) extended down the west bank of the Lewis and Clark River for nearly half a mile from the southeast corner (which was only a short distance south of the old landing), and it extended westward from the river for nearly a mile.

Meanwhile, some rather important changes had taken place up on the benchland where Shane and Moore had built their houses. As late as 1853, if Gillette's memory was accurate, a clearing of half an acre or more which had been made by Lewis and Clark was still evident because of the second-growth timber which stood on it . Surrounding this old clearing were virgin forest and the stumps of original-growth trees cut to feed M ore's mill. About 1853, however, Franklin Shane began to clear his land, and soon he had an orchard set out on the level ground back of his house. In 1856 surveyors following the section line between Sections 35 and 36 reported traversing an extensive "garden" running up the bluff from the river and across the benchland. [60]

Rachel Ada Shane died in 1855, and Franklin Shane followed her to the grave between 1860 and 1867. His donation land claim, or such of it as had not already been sold, passed to his two daughters, Ada E. (or Elizabeth Ada) Shane and Mary Aramenta Shane. [61] Both of these daughters, evidently, married men named Smith, Ada, F. B. Smith, and Mary, Wade Hampton Smith. In 1872 Wade Hampton acquired Ada's interest in such portions of the property as had not previously been sold. [62] His property included the south 1/2 of the claim, upon which the site of old Fort Clatsop was situated.

From the latter date the legal history of the Shane claim becomes complicated. Parcels of land, and clay and mineral rights to various parcels, were disposed of, and then subdivided and re-transferred many times. For the purposes of this study, there seems to be no necessity of following all these changes of ownership, since they throw no real light on the location of the site of Fort Clatsop. The site is fixed independently by evidence other than the chain of title. The important fact is that the site was within the Shane Donation Land Claim, the boundaries of which were reasonably well established as early as 1857 and are marked on present-day maps (see Map 2).

Sometime about 1856 Franklin Shane seems to have lost interest in his orchard and garden on the Fort Clatsop site, and he failed to maintain them. A visitor to the property about 1870 reported the site overgrown with young forest trees about 20 feet high. The house built by Carlos W. Shane had disappeared by that date. [63] However, between about 1870 and 1872--the date does not seem clearly established--W. H. Smith began to improve the property once again. He built a fairly substantial house on the land, in the locality where the Shane and Moore houses previously stood. This is the house which appears in the 1899 photographs. [64]

Several years later, between about 1876 and 1879, Joseph B. Stevenson and his wife Louisa moved into the W. H. Smith house. According to Stevenson's daughter, he purchased the place from Smith; but the county records seemingly do not contain documents to attest to such a sale, and Smith later sold to others the property on which this house stood. Evidently, therefore, Stevenson merely rented the tract.

Stevenson, his daughter later recalled, "spared nothing" to make the Fort Clatsop site a fine home for his family. He developed a "lovely" yard, with several fruit trees and a croquet court. Among other economic activities, he made charcoal on the property. During the cleanup activities at the historical monument after World Ware II by local civic organizations, the remains of a charcoal pile or pit were discovered. Perhaps this was a relic of Stevenson's operations. After several years, between about 1881 and 1889, the Stevensons moved to Portland. The subsequent history of the old Smith house is not known, but in 1900 it was "out of repair and tenantless." [65]

Meanwhile, a temporary economic revival had come to the general vicinity of the Fort Clatsop Site. The old Lewis and Clark landing proved to be a convenient place to tie up ships, and during the summers of 1860-1862 the United States Revenue Service overhauled its cutter there. [66] During the late 1850's residents of Portland and other inland settlements began to seek relief from the summer heat by spending vacations along the fine sea beaches south of the mouth of the Columbia. It was found that the most convenient way of reaching the coast under transportation conditions then existing was to go by boat to the Fort Clatsop landing and then by hired horse or carriage over the hills to the Clatsop plains and the beach. In July, 1862, the Oregon Steam Navigation Company inaugurated a regular summer service by the s steamer Jennie Clark directly from Portland to Fort Clatsop Landing. [67]

This service continued for a number of years. Traffic increased considerably after 1873, when Benjamin Holladay opened his famous Seaside House on the beach. On May 6, 1875, W. H. Smith and his wife sold 5 acres of land along the west bank of the Lewis and Clark River to the Oregon Steam Navigation Company for wharf and transfer facilities. This property included the old Lewis and Clark landing place. [68]

During the late 1870's and early 1880's, the Stevensons, residents on the Fort Clatsop site, operated a line of spring wagons to take passengers back and forth between the landing and the beach, and evidently their service was followed by a regular stage line. By the late 1880's traffic had so increased that larger boats were required to bring down the crowds from Portland. The Lewis and Clark River was too shallow to accommodate these vessels, which had to stop at Astoria. Smaller shuttle boats, like the General Canby, were used for the run between that point and the old landing. The Oregon Rail way and Navigation Company, which succeeded to the assets of the older steamship firm, maintained a wharf and a substantial "wharf room" at Fort Clatsop.

Toward the end of the century other routes of transportation were developed to the coast. By 1905 there was a railroad to Seaside, and the Fort Clatsop wharf was referred to in correspondence as the place where passengers "formerly" landed. Evidently, however, small boats from Astoria still continued to use the landing at that date. [69]

While Clatsop Landing was still prospering as a transfer point for Seaside passengers, a new industry developed in the vicinity which altered the landscape somewhat near the site of the Lewis and Clark encampment and, apparently, posed a threat to the very ground on which the old fort had stood. It was discovered that the ridge or bluff on which the site was located contained a clay which was well suited for the making of ceramic products.

On September 24, 1887, Mary Shane Smith sold an undivided 1/2 of the rights to the mineral and clay under most of the Shane Donation Claim to the Oregon Pottery Company. [70] Thereafter, the records of Clatsop County reveal numerous transactions relating to these and other clay rights in the vicinity. Over the next three decades a number of companies, including the Western Clay Manufacturing Company and Gladding, McBean & Co., acquired interests in the neighborhood. The complicated story of these clay right transfers cannot be treated in the present report, but it should be noted that these rights evidently are still valid today and that for some parcels of the former Shane property they apparently are held by persons other than the present land owners.

Apparently there is little information readily available as to exactly where the clay was extracted and how long operations continued. In 1902 a prospective purchaser for part of the south half of the Shane Donation Land Claim stated, "clay has been continuously removed" from the property. [71] When the Oregon Historical Society purchased its 3-acre tract in 1901, its officers were aware of the danger to the historic Fort Clatsop site resulting from the outstanding right to remove clay, but they were unable to do anything about it. That there may have been good grounds for their fear is revealed by the letter of a person interested in the former Shane property who wrote in 1902 that the 3-acre tract contained "the land most available for clay." [72] As far as is known, however, no clay was ever actually removed from the fort site proper, although the bluff faces southwest of it appear to show evidence of excavation. Seemingly commercial interest in the deposits had waned by the late 1920's, for when the Oregon Historical Society purchased 2 additional acres in 1928, the clay rights came with the land.

Acquisition of site by Oregon Historical Society. On December 15, 9, the Directors of the Oregon Historical Society, which was then one year old, requested the Society's Committee on Memorials to proceed as soon as practicable to determine the exact locations of certain places of historic interest in Oregon including the "site of the Lewis and Clark encampment near Astoria." [73] The object of this move was to permit the Society to acquire tracts of land at these sites "for the purpose of erecting monuments upon them" whenever the funds could be obtained. [74]

On June 8 of the next year, as has been seen, two members of the committee, and a group of early settlers of the vicinity visited the traditional site of Fort Clatsop; and the pioneers pointed out the spot where they remembered having seen, during the 1850's, ruins of log structures which were then said to be the remains of the Lewis and Clark wintering post. On the basis of this evidence, the party marked off the site of the fort, in the committee's words, "as near as can now be determined." [75]

After much negotiation, which involved the determination and then one or more re-determinations of the most desirable boundaries, the Oregon Historical Society on September 24, 1901 purchased for $250 a 3-acre tract which contained the site of the Lewis and Clark cabins as pointed out by the pioneer settlers, It is interesting to note that for an additional expenditure of about $650, the Society could have acquired a much larger tract, almost 160 acres. This opportunity, however, was rejected. [76]

Acquisition of Second Oregon Historical Society tract. The Oregon Historical Society had always regretted that the land purchased in 1901 did not include the spring from which the explorers traditionally were believed to have drawn their water. Evidently the spring thus referred to was the one which exists today about 50 feet north of the Oregon Historical Society property and which the Committee on Memorials had believed was included within the Fort Clatsop stockade. This spring was not situated on property which was available for purchase in 1901. During 1926 a proposal was made to add quite a large parcel of property lying north, west and south of the original tract, but nothing came of it. [77]

In May, 1928, the Society was "suddenly" given an opportunity to purchase about 2 additional acres adjoining its first tract. In soliciting funds to cover the sale price, T. C. Elliott, of the Society, stated that the property thus offered was the "land upon which these springs flow." [78] This remark was rather strange in view of the fact that when the Society purchased a second tract of 1.9 acres on May 15, 1928, it adjoined the original tract on the south and evidently did not include a second spring which is located at the foot of the bluff southwest of the original three acres. [79]

Subsequent history of the property. The later administration and development of the Oregon Historical Society property as a historic monument, the acquisition of additional tracts of land by the Clatsop County Historical Society and by Clatsop County, the cooperation of local civic groups in the maintenance of the property, and the growth of the movement to have the site made a national monument are all treated at considerable length and with adequate documentation in Section IV of this report. In order to give some continuity to the account, however, a very brief overall review of the history of the property as a historic monument is given here.

After acquiring the 3-acre tract in 1901, the Oregon Historical Society was able to do little to improve it for a number of years. However, merely by holding it, the Society undoubtedly preserved the Fort Clatsop Site from disturbance and alteration by commercial, agricultural, or residential developments.

A marker was placed on the property in 1912 ; and in or about 1928 the site was cleared of brush, a flagpole was installed, and a bronze tablet erected on a cement base. Clatsop County assisted in this latter project by widening and improving the road leading to the tract. It is recorded that the citizens of Astoria contributed "considerable time and money" toward these improvements; and this cooperative local action has been an important factor in the maintenance and development of the site to the present day.

During subsequent years the Oregon Historical Society kept the property open to the public and, with local help, maintained it as a historic monument as far as the limited funds available would permit. Evidently, however, there were periods when little or no upkeep was performed. This neglect was particularly severe during World War II, due to the Society's "inability to get maintenance help."

By the end of the war the site was in an unsightly condition, being described in the local press as a "garbage dump." The Clatsop County Historical Society, with headquarters in Astoria, in 1947 spearheaded a movement to rehabilitate the area. There followed a series of cleanup projects. The Astoria Junior Chamber of Commerce joined in this work in 1953, and as a result the site was consider ably improved. But it had been realized for some time by the Oregon Historical Society and the local civic groups that volunteer labor alone would not prove adequate in the long run for the proper operation of a historic monument which was increasingly becoming an object of interest to travelers and other sight-seers. Therefore, over the years there had been a series of proposals to have the site maintained by the State Highway Commission, by an agency supported by special local taxes, or by the Federal Government.

All of these matters more or less came to a head late in 1953 and early in 1954 with the development of plans to hold a Lewis and Clark Sesquicentennial Celebration in 1955 along the route of the expedition. The citizens of Astoria determined to center their part of the celebration about the Fort Clatsop Site; and the Junior Chamber of Commerce and the Clatsop County Historical Society formed a group to finance the improvement of the property. The chief feature of the planned development was to be the erection of a full-sized replica of Fort Clatsop on or near the original site. The Oregon Historical Society gave its permission for this project, and steps to bring it to fruition were soon under way.

On February 7, 1955, the Clatsop County Historical Society, through what amounted to a gift from M. A. Riekkola, acquired title to about an acre of ground on the benchland immediately west of the Oregon Historical Society property. On February 15 it leased from Clatsop County another l-acre tract immediately north of the land acquired from Mr. Riekkola. [80] The larger part of these two acres was cleared, and an extensive graveled parking lot was placed on the southern portion. Adequate entrance and exit roads were developed to this lot.

The Crown Zellerbach Corporation donated the logs needed for the reconstruction of Fort Clatsop, and they were assembled by skilled Finnish workmen using plans which were based upon Clark's drawings. After notching and preliminary assembly, the logs were separated and sent to a treating plant for saturation with chemical preservatives. They were then re-assembled on the Oregon Historical Society property directly west of the historical marker. The replica, which has never been entirely completed, is a reasonable approximation of the Fort Clatsop which is known from the Lewis and Clark records, but a lack of funds and a desire to give the building reasonable permanence resulted in a number of compromises with the facts as presented in the original journals. And it must be admitted that even if all these facts had been followed faithfully, there still would remain room for a good deal of conjecture as to the exact construction of the original fort.

The reconstructed Fort Clatsop was dedicated on August 21, 1955. Other improvements which were part of the same general project included a well, pump, drinking fountain, and picnic tables. A heavy wire fence was subsequently built around the replica to protect it from vandals.

The site continues to be operated as a historic monument by the Oregon Historical Society, in cooperation with the Clatsop County Historical Society. In general, the agreement appears to work as follows: the Portland organization provides policy direction, such funds as are required, and handles certain contractual and legal matters; while the local groups provide the immediate on-the-spot administration, such as the collection of fees and the supervision of maintenance. During the summer of 1956 a caretaker was stationed on the property during the daylight hours so that visitors could gain entrance to the reconstructed fort.

Critical Bibliography. The literature on the Lewis and Clark Expedition is extensive. Most of it, however, depends for basic facts upon a relatively modest list of original source materials. This observation is particularly applicable to accounts of the party's stay at Fort Clatsop. Beyond what appears in the writings of the expedition's members, practically nothing is known of occurrences at the Lewis and Clark camp during the winter of 1805-1806. The only significant additional knowledge on this subject is contained in the reminiscences of several descendants of Indians who associated with the explorers during their winter sojourn near the mouth of the Columbia.

No attempt has been made to examine the original manuscript journals and other records of the expedition during the present investigation. Most of these sources have been printed in such detail and with such care as to remove the necessity for such examination except with regard to unusual problems. During recent years some additional Lewis and Clark manuscripts have come to light, and they remain yet unpublished. Through the courtesy of Mr. Herbert E. Kahler, Chief Historian of the National Park Service, and Mr. Oliver W. Holmes of the National Archives, these new materials have been searched and have been found to contain no information which would be helpful to the present study.

The first authentic narrative of the expedition to appear in print was the journal of Sergeant Patrick Gass. Published in 1307, it has been reprinted many times. Although pedestrian in style, it contains certain information not found elsewhere concerning the activities of the expedition near the mouth of the Columbia. The edition generally used for the present study was Gass's Journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Reprinted from the Edition of 1811 (Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., l904).

The official, and standard, account of the Lewis and Clark exploration was prepared by Nicholas Biddle from the finished log of the journey, supplemented by other manuscripts and journals, including those of Private Joseph Whitehouse and Sergeant John Ordway, and by the personal explanations of George Shannon, a member of the party. Biddle's work was issued under the following title: History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the Sources of the Missouri, thence . . . to the Pacific Ocean . . . Prepared for the Press by Paul Allen, Esquire (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1814). This famous account has also been reprinted a number of times. The best-known of these editions is that prepared by the famous historian Elliott Coues: History of the Expedition under the command of Lewis and Clark . . . A New Edition, Faithfully Reprinted from the Only Authorized Edition of 1814; with Copious Critical Commentary, Pre pared upon Examination . . . of the Original Manuscript Journals and of the Explorers (4 vols., New York, 1893). The annotation provided by Coues has held up quite well despite new facts which have come to light since he wrote; but he took certain liberties with the journal texts as reproduced by Diddle, who, in turn, had made certain refinements, additions, and deletions.

By far the best printed source for knowledge of the Lewis and Clark Expedition is the collection of journals, notebooks, and maps edited by Reuben Cold Thwaites under the title, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806; Printed from the Original Manuscripts . . . Now for the First Time Published in Full and Exactly as Written (7 vols. and atlas, New York, 1904-1905). Thwaites not only reproduced carefully the complete texts of the Lewis and Clark journals and notebooks available to Biddle and Coues, but also those of several field books, letters, and other manuscripts not known to scholars until 1903. Also reproduced are several journals by members of the party other than Lewis and Clark. Time has proved that some of Thwaites's editing was careless, and many of his notes are now known to be in error, but the exact transcriptions of all of the then available texts and the reproductions of the splendid Clark maps make this work indispensable for serious study of the expedition.

Sergeant John Ordway's journal was not available to Thwaites, but it was later found and edited by Milo M. Quaife in The Journals of Captain Meriwether Lewis and Sergeant John Ordway, Kept on the Expedition of Western Exploration, 1803-1806 (Publications of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Collections, XXII, Madison, 1916). The Ordway journal contains information of importance relating to Fort Clatsop.

The only other original Lewis and Clark source material which needs to be noted here is the condensed version of the journals edited by Bernard DeVoto, The Journals of Lewis and Clark (Boston; Houghton Mifflin Company, 1953). Admittedly not for use by scholars, this skillful abridgment preserves the flavor of the original narratives and provides a fine running account of the trans-continental journey. Unfortunately, the condensation has been so extensive for the period during which the party was at Fort Clatsop that DeVoto's text gives little information on the location or physical structure of the fort. However, the preface and the introduction provide valuable critical commentary upon the sources and a fine summary of the background, accomplishments, and significance of the expedition. Since DeVoto personally visited most of the locations mentioned in the journals, his notes on the geography are illuminating.

Secondary works on the Lewis and Clark expedition are legion. No attempt can be made to list them all here. Perhaps the most useful for the purposes of this study was Olin D. Wheeler, The Trail of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1904 (2 vols., New York, l904). Wheeler made a sincere attempt to follow the route of the explorers, and his was the first serious effort to identify the site of Fort Clatsop. A second edition of this work was issued in 1926.

The geographical background and the significance of the expedition are perhaps nowhere presented so well as in Bernard DeVoto, The Course of Empire Houghton Mifflin Company, 1952). Other secondary works of value for the overall story of the expedition, though they throw little light on Fort Clatsop, are John E. Bakeless, Lewis and Clark, Partners in Discovery (New York; Morrow, 1947); Elijah H. Criswell, Lewis and Clark: Linguistic Pioneers (University of Missouri Studies, XV, Columbia, 1940); and Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast (2 vols., San Francisco, 1884).

Periodical literature bearing upon the expedition is also voluminous. One article which should be mentioned because it bears directly upon the topic of this study, is Frederick V. Holman, "Lewis and Clark Expedition at Fort Clatsop," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXVII (September 1926), 265-278. Another thoughtful study of the meaning of the expedition is F. G. Young, "The Higher Significance in the Lewis and Clark Exploration," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, VI (March 1905), 1-25.

For one of the main parts of this study-the history of Fort Clatsop after Lewis and Clark left it and the exact location of the site--there was little organized source material available. The facts had to be dug out of a vast assortment of magazine articles, general histories, travelers' narratives, county records, newspaper accounts, and other widely scattered sources. There is no need to list them all here; they have been cited at the appropriate places in the narrative report. As far as could be determined, there has been only one previous serious attempt to assemble this phase of the story. Quite recently the staff of the Oregon Historical Society prepared a typewritten, 5-page paper, "The Fort Clatsop Site" (no place, no date), which was very useful in directing attention to fugitive source materials. In this part of the study, of course, the records of the Oregon Historical Society, both published and manuscript, were of inestimable value, and appreciation is expressed to Mr. Thomas Vaughan, Director, and other members of the Society's staff for making them available.

Many persons and organizations contributed bibliographical information to this study. Special mention must be made of Mr. Otto A. Owen, President, and Mr. Burnby Bell, Corresponding Secretary of the Clatsop County Historical Society, who lent materials from their own collections and made available the Society's scrapbooks, which contain newspaper clippings of much value and which would have been very difficult to find elsewhere. The personal scrapbook of Mr. Walter G. Johnson, Astoria, was also made available for this study, and it too contained many clippings of importance. The records of Clatsop County also contain many items useful to the present investigation, and particular thanks are due to Mr. Emil Berg, County Assessor, and to Mrs. Constance Bernier, Assistant in the County Clerk's Office, for making them accessible. Photographs formed an important part of this study, and many of the present-day ones which appear in this report were taken by Mr. Paul J. F. Schumacher.