Robert Heacock
Robert Stuart Heacock (1957–2025) was an Eastern Washington native who lived in the Spokane area. After seeing many Lewis and Clark sites during years of business travel, he served as historian on the cruise boats that ply the Columbia and Snake Rivers — a role that gave him the opportunity to document pertinent sights along those rivers, some not usually accessible to visitors.
Heacock was the author of Wind Hard from the West: The Lewis and Clark Expedition on the Snake and Columbia Rivers (2015), with photography by Kris Townsend. The book is available from the Nez Perce County Historical Society and Museum in Lewiston, Idaho.
He passed away on July 5, 2025, in his home in Liberty Lake, Washington, surrounded by family. The Lewis & Clark Research Database is honored to host his river-mile reference data — over a thousand entries documenting features along the Columbia and Snake — as a permanent memorial contribution.
Bio adapted with attribution from lewis-clark.org/contributors/robert-heacock and the obituary published by Hennessey Valley Funeral Home.
Portrait: Photo from family / obituary, used by permission
Heacock's Writings
50 articles preserved as a memorial archive — originally published by Robert Heacock at lewis-clark.org, mirrored here with permission of his family.
Among the Nez Perce1 article
Army Life1 article
Chinookan Peoples3 articles
Columbia River Geology1 article
Day-by-Day34 articles
April 20, 1803
Lewis leaves Harpers Ferry
September 4, 1803
Leaky boats
September 6, 1803
Sailing past Steubenville
September 13, 1803
Marietta, Ohio
September 15, 1803
Passing Belpre
September 16, 1803
Very bad riffles
September 18, 1803
Letart Falls
September 28, 1803
Cincinnati arrival
November 13, 1803
Leaving Fort Massac
November 17, 1803
Stormy day
November 19, 1803
Survey and observations
November 23, 1803
Louis Lorimier of Cape Girardeau
November 24, 1803
Limestone cliffs
November 25, 1803
Grand Tower ritual
December 7, 1803
Cahokia arrivals
May 16, 1804
St. Charles arrival
October 21, 1805
Columbia River rapids
October 29, 1805
Friendly villages
November 3, 1805
The "Quick Sand" River
November 7, 1805
Ocean in view?
November 25, 1805
Leaving Station Camp
November 27, 1805
Sheltering at Tongue Point
December 30, 1805
Fair morning
January 3, 1806
An agreeable food
January 8, 1806
A night at Ecola
February 8, 1806
Bringing in the elk
March 26, 1806
At Fanny's Bottom
March 27, 1806
Generous Skilloots
April 2, 1806
Exploring the Willamette River
April 3, 1806
Mapping the Willamette River
April 7, 1806
Regulating the firearms
April 9, 1806
Beautiful waterfalls
April 27, 1806
Yelleppit's village
April 28, 1806
Yelleppit brings a horse
Down the Columbia4 articles
Beacon Rock
A remarkable, high and detached rock
Phoca (Seal) Rock
The Columbia River Gorge
Its geologic origin
