Portaging Cascades of the Columbia upstream — John Ordway: April 4, 1806

see what success the hunters had met the hunters returned with
5 of them they had killd one Elk Six Deer and a handsome black
bear & 2 Geese the hunters soon went out again 4 was Sent on
1 “Said river” was the Willamette, which the explorers had passed unnoticed
both when descending the Columbia the previous autumn a/id more recently
when ascending it. Their knowledge of the general topography of the region
induced the belief that there must be a considerable river draining the country
south of the Columbia between the Cascade Mountains and the Coast Range,
and at first they supposed Sandy River to be this stream. They were disabused
of this idea, however, by various parties of Indians who agreed in reporting
that Sandy River originated on the western slope of Mount Hood. This in-
formation convinced them that there must be another considerable southern
tributary of the Columbia in the vicinity which they had failed to see, but their
inquiries of the natives concerning such a river at first proved fruitless. At
length a party arrived which included two young men who, the explorers were
told, lived on such a river as they were seeking. With a coal one of the two
natives drew on a mat a sketch of the river. Clark at once determined to set
out to visit it, and engaged to pay his informant a burning glass for his services
as guide. He ascended the Willamette to a point in the vicinity of Portland,
when, being “perfectly satisfyed” of its magnitude, and that it must drain the
region between the Cascades and the Coast Range, as far south as the “Waters
of Callifornia about Latd 37° North,” he returned. Below Portland the Wil-
lamette is a noble river, navigable for ocean vessels, but it falls far short of
extending to the “Waters of Callifornia.”
1806] SERGEANT ORDWAY’S JOURNAL ‘337
with a small Canoe a head 5 or 6 miles to a bottom on S. Side to
hunt untill we come up. the after part of the day pleasant, one
of the men killd 2 deer, in the evening 2 of our hunters came in
had killd 2 deer and caught a beaver.