Clark: April 14, 1806

Monday, April 14th, 1806. This morning at 7 o'clock we were joined by Sgt. Pryor and the three hunters with him. They brought with them 4 deer that Drewyer had killed yesterday. We took breakfast and departed at 9 A.M. The wind rose and continued to blow hard all day, but not so violently as to prevent our proceeding. We kept close along the N. Shore all day. The river from the rapids to the commencement of the narrows is from 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile in width, and possesses but little current. The bed is rock, except at the entrance of Labiech's River, which heads in Mt. Hood and, like the Quicksand River, brings down from there vast bodies of sand. The mountains through which the river passes nearly to Cataract River are high, broken, and rocky, particularly covered with fir and white cedar, and in many places present very romantic scenes. Some handsome cascades are seen on either side, tumbling from the stupendous rocks of the mountains into the river. I observe near the river the long-leafed pine, which increases as we ascend and supersedes the fir altogether about the Sepulchre Rock. We find the trunks of many large pine trees standing erect as they grew, at present in 30 feet of water; they are much decayed and none of them vegetating. At the lowest water of the river, many of those trees are in 10 feet of water. The cause I have attempted to account for as I descended.

At 1 P.M. we arrived at a large village situated in a narrow bottom on the N. side, a little above the entrance of Canoe Creek. Their houses are rather detached and extend for several miles. They are about 20 in number. These people call themselves Wil-la-cum. They differ but little in appearance, dress, etc., from those of the rapids. Their men have some leggings and moccasins among them. These are in the style of the Chopunnish. They have some good horses, of which we saw 10 or 12. These are the first horses we have met with since we left this neighborhood last fall. In short, the country below this place will not permit the use of this valuable animal, except in the Columbian Valley, and there the present inhabitants have no use for them, as they reside immediately on the river and the country is too thickly timbered.

We halted at this village, dined, and purchased five dogs, some roots, chappalell, filberts, and dried berries from the inhabitants. Here I observed several habitations underground; they were sunk about 8 feet deep and covered with strong timber and several feet of earth in a conic form. These habitations are vacated at present. They are about 16 feet in diameter, nearly circular, and are entered through a hole at the top which appears to serve the double purpose of a chimney and a door. From this entrance you descend to the floor by a ladder. The present habitations of these people were on the surface of the ground and do not differ from those of the tribes about the Rapids. Their language is the same as that of the Che-luck-kit-to-quaws. These people appeared very friendly. Some of them informed us that they had lately returned from a war excursion against the Snake Indians, who inhabit the upper part of the Multnomah River to the S.E. of them; they call them To-wan-nah-hi-ooks. They said they had been fortunate in the expedition and had taken from their enemies most of the horses which we saw in their possession.

After dinner we proceeded on our voyage. I walked on shore with Shabono on the N. side through a handsome bottom. We met several parties of women and boys in search of herbs and roots to subsist on; many of them had parcels of the stems of the sunflower. I joined Capt Lewis (Capt. Lewis) and the party at 6 miles, at which place the river washed the bottom of high cliffs on the N. side. Several canoes overtook us with families moving up. We passed 3 encampments and came to in the mouth of a small creek on the N. side, immediately below a village and opposite the Sepulchre Rock. This village consists of about 100 fighting men of several tribes from the plains to the north, collected here waiting for the salmon. They do not differ in any respect from those below. Many of them visited our camp this evening and remained with us until we went to bed. They then left us and returned to their quarters. Made ____ miles.