Departed Fort Clatsop, ascending Columbia River — John Ordway: April 2, 1806

evening for the meat of the 4 Elk Stayed out all night our offi-
cers determined to delay at this place untill the hunters kill 9 or
10 Elk and jurk the meat to take along with us.2 So all the best
of our hunters turned out the most of them went over to the
South Shore & in different directions a hunting, the natives in-
formed our officers that their is a large River comes in on the South
Side Some distance below quick sand River which we had not
Seen So Cap* Clark & 6 men Set out with a canoe to go and ex-
amine the sd River, took an Indian along for a guide, the after
part of the [day] clear & pleasant in the evening 3 of the hunters
came in had killed two Deer. 30 odd Savages Camped with us,
men women & children.
1 Modern Washougal River, which joins the Columbia in Clarke County.
Wash. The camp was just above its mouth.
2 From numerous parties of Indians coming down the river it was learned
that game was exceedingly scarce above, and that the salmon would not arrive
until about the first of May. Not daring to wait this long, the decision was
reached to lie by at the present camp until a large enough store of meat had
been accumulated to subsist the party until it should arrive among the Chopun-
nish, where the horses had been left the previous autumn.
336 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [April 3