Columbia River tidewater, approaching estuary — Patrick Gass: November 5, 1805

last night about 2 o’clock, and the morning was cloudy. We
170 GASS’S JOURNAL OF THE
passed several handsome islands, generally near the shore, on
the one side or the other of the river. The country on both
sides is somewhat higher than what we passed yesterday, and
closely covered with spruce timber. The bottoms are large,
covered with cotton wood, maple, and the like kinds of wood.
We passed a great many Indian camps, their lodges made
chiefly of poles and cedar bark. At noon we stopped about
an hour at an island, and some of the men went out and
killed nine brants and a swan. Three of the brants were
quite white except the points of their wings, which were black.
We proceeded on in the afternoon, during which some rain
and a little hail fell; went 31 miles and encamped on the north
side. Here the tide rises and falls 4 feet.