Journal entry · October 27, 1805

Celilo Falls and The Dalles portage — Patrick Gass: October 27, 1805

Patrick Gass · Celilo Falls and The Dalles portage · Thwaites Vol. Gass 1807 First Edition

The place today: Celilo Falls and The Dalles portage

blew very hard up the river, and we remained here all day.
This is the first hunting ground we have had for a long time,
and some of our men went out. Part of the natives remained
with us; but we cannot find out to what nation they belong.
We suppose them to be a band of the Flathead nation, as all
their heads are compressed into the same form; though they
do not speak exactly the same language, but there is no great
difference, and this may be a dialect of the same. This sin-
gular and deforming operation is performed in infancy in the
following manner. A piece of board is placed against the
back of the head extending from the shoulders some distance
above it; another shorter piece extends from the eye brows
to the top of the first, and they are then bound together with
thongs or cords made of skins, so as to press back the fore-
head, make the head rise at the top, and force it out above
the ears. In the evening our hunters came in and had killed
4 deer and some squirrels. The wind blew hard all this day.

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The NPS atlas for this night

left bank at Fort Rock, OR

NPS campsite reconstruction (Bergantino) · Camp of October 25 to October 27, 1805

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From the NPS Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Park Atlas, mirrored here on September 21, 2026. This copy is not authoritative; NPS remains the system of record. About the mirror

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