Columbia estuary, storm-bound, vote on winter camp — Patrick Gass: November 10, 1805
With swells lower than the previous day, the expedition departed Cape Swell and traveled eight miles along high sandy cliffs before reaching a point where rising winds and high swells forced them to turn back about a mile to find safe harbor. They dined on pounded salmon obtained from local Indians and unloaded the canoes. After waters calmed, they reloaded but still could not round the point, so they camped at a freshwater branch beneath rocky cliffs, sleeping cramped among driftwood. Heavy rain fell all night. They spotted porpoises, sea otters, and gulls; the water had turned very salty.
not so high as it had been yesterday; and we set out from
Cape Swell, coasted along for 8 miles, passed some high cliffs
of sandy rocks, and then came to a point; where we found
the swells so high, the wind having risen, that we could not
proceed: so we had to return back about a mile to get a safe
harbour. Here we dined on some pounded salmon, that we
had procured from the Indians; and unloaded our canoes.
After we had been here about 2 hours, it became more calm
and we loaded our canoes again, but could not get round the
point, the swells were still so high; we therefore put to at a
branch of fresh water, under high cliffs of rocks and unloaded
again. Here we scarcely had room to lie between the rocks
and water; but we made shift to do it among some drift wood
that had been beat up by the tide. It rained hard all night
and was very disagreeable. While on our way down to day
we saw some porpoises, sea otter and a great many sea gulls.
The water is become very salt.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
The water was not as high as it had been yesterday, and we set out from Cape Swell, coasting along for 8 miles. We passed some high cliffs of sandy rocks, and then came to a point where we found the swells so high—the wind having risen—that we could not proceed. So we had to turn back about a mile to find a safe harbor. Here we dined on some pounded salmon that we had obtained from the Indians, and unloaded our canoes.
After we had been here about 2 hours, it became calmer and we loaded our canoes again, but could not get around the point because the swells were still so high. We therefore put in at a branch of fresh water, under high cliffs of rocks, and unloaded again. Here we scarcely had room to lie between the rocks and the water, but we managed to do it among some driftwood that had been beaten up by the tide. It rained hard all night and was very disagreeable.
While on our way down today we saw some porpoises, sea otter, and a great many sea gulls. The water has become very salty.
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