Canoe Camp on Clearwater River — John Ordway: October 5, 1805
The expedition traveled about 31 miles down the river, passing a very large Native village at the foot of an island on the starboard side, where local people paddled out in canoes hoping to trade dressed elk skins for muskets. Several islands were passed along the way, and hunters killed a swan and several brants. The party encountered scattered rain showers throughout the day before camping on the larboard shore, where pine-covered hills came down close to the river.
we proceeded on about 10 miles and passed a verry large village,
at the foot of an Island4 on the Stard Side they have a number of
canoes Some of the Savages came out in the River in their
canoes to see us they wanted to trade with us for muskets of-
fered us dressed Elk Skins, passed Several Islands Some of the
hunters killed one Swan and Several brants, we had Several
1 “The roots are of a superior quality to any I had before seen; I hey are
called whapto; resemble a potatoe when cooked, and are about as big as a hen
egg.” Gass. “The plant. Sagiitaria variabilis, is one of the best-known mem-
bers of the monocotyledonous order Alismaceae.” Cones.
2 Not Mt. Rainier, but Ml. St. Helens, in Skamania County. Wash. Clark
mistakenly supposes that this is the peak (Ml. Adams) seen by the party on
October 1(.>.
Thej were so •Ihick” that they kepi the explorers awake nearly all night.
Cones locales the camp at Knapp’s Landing, Clarke Comity, Wash., .”>’. miles
below the mouth of Willamette River.
4 Bachelor’s Island, opposite the QlOUth of Lewis River, according to Coues.
1805] SERGEANT ORD WAY’S JOURNAL 309
Small Showers of rain we Came 31 miles to day and Camped on
the Lard Shore.1 the pine hills make close to River.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
We proceeded on about 10 miles and passed a very large village at the foot of an Island on the Starboard Side. They have a number of canoes. Some of the Indians came out in the River in their canoes to see us. They wanted to trade with us for muskets, and offered us dressed Elk Skins. We passed several Islands. Some of the hunters killed one Swan and several brants. We had several small showers of rain. We came 31 miles today and camped on the Larboard Shore. The pine hills come close to the River.
This modernization is AI-generated for accessibility. The original above is the authoritative version.
Entities mentioned in this entry
Auto-extracted from the entry text. Hover any entity for context.
