Portaging Cascades of the Columbia upstream — Patrick Gass: April 8, 1806
Strong northeast winds and high swells forced the party to unload canoes and pull some ashore to avoid damage. Several men complained of rheumatic pains, blamed on the wet winter at Fort Clatsop, where rain fell nearly every day from November 1805 through late March 1806. Hunters returned with only a small duck. The next day, the group resumed travel, stopped at an Al-e-is village to eat and buy five dogs, then continued past a rapid at Strawberry Island, bought two more dogs, and camped in light rain.
so hard from the northeast that it was impossible to go on;
and about 8 o’clock the swells ran so high that we had to un-
load our canoes, and haul some of them out of the water to
prevent their being injured. Some of the men are complain-
ing of rheumatick pains; which are to be expected from the
wet and cold we suffered last winter, during which from the
4th of November 1805 to the 25th of March 1806, there were
not more than twelve days in which it did not rain, and of
these but six were clear. Two hunters, who had gone out in
the morning, returned, but had killed nothing, except a beau-
tiful small duck.
212 GASS’S JOURNAL OF THE
CHAP. XIX.
EDNESDAY gth. The morning was pleasant ; we there-
fore loaded our canoes and proceeded on till 11 o’clock
when we stopped at a large Indian village on the north side;
but a number of the huts were unoccupied. They are of the
Al-e-is nation. At the time we halted 3 canoe loads of them
were setting out for the falls to fish. We took breakfast here
and bought 5 dogs from them. The women all wear the small
leather bandage, but are quite naked otherwise, except what
is covered by the small robe they wear round their shoulders.
In the afternoon the weather became cloudy and some rain
fell. In the evening we came to a large rapid at the lower end
of Strawberry island; where there are a number of the natives
about settling on the north side. Here we crossed over, after
buying two dogs from them, and encamped behind the island.
Some rain continued falling.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
so hard from the northeast that it was impossible to go on; and about 8 o'clock the swells ran so high that we had to unload our canoes, and haul some of them out of the water to prevent their being damaged. Some of the men are complaining of rheumatic pains, which are to be expected from the wet and cold we suffered last winter, during which, from the 4th of November 1805 to the 25th of March 1806, there were not more than twelve days in which it did not rain, and of these only six were clear. Two hunters, who had gone out in the morning, returned, but had killed nothing except a beautiful small duck.
CHAP. XIX.
Wednesday 9th. The morning was pleasant; we therefore loaded our canoes and proceeded on until 11 o'clock, when we stopped at a large Indian village on the north side, but a number of the huts were unoccupied. They are of the Al-e-is nation. At the time we halted, 3 canoe loads of them were setting out for the falls to fish. We took breakfast here and bought 5 dogs from them. The women all wear the small leather bandage, but are otherwise quite naked, except for what is covered by the small robe they wear around their shoulders. In the afternoon the weather became cloudy and some rain fell. In the evening we came to a large rapid at the lower end of Strawberry Island, where a number of the natives are about settling on the north side. Here we crossed over, after buying two dogs from them, and camped behind the island. Some rain continued falling.
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.
