Traveling the Rivers

Traveling the Rivers. . Camping on the Clearwater River in present-day Idaho, the Corps of Discovery made dugout canoes from pine logs. For expediency, Sergeant Patrick Gass noted: "we have adopted the Indian method of burning out the canoes." Axes and adzes were used to shape the canoes and then to remove the charred wood from the inside. , Despite many of the men being sick, they built five canoes in ten days. Shortly after leaving the Clearwater camp, according to Clark on October 7, 1805, "the Canoe in which I was Struck a rock and Sprung a leak in the 3rd rapid, we proceeded on..." , The explorers first saw and purchased a Chinookan canoe near The Dalles. Clark wrote on October 23, 1805, "these Canoes are neeter made than any I have ever Seen and Calculated to ride the waves, and cary emence burthens..." , (Side-bar on right:) , The Corps of Discovery arrived at this site in its four dugout canoes and one Indian canoe on December 7, 1805, to establish Fort Clatsop as its winter quarters. During The Corps' sojourn here, this place along the river (which is now the Lewis and Clark River) served as the expeditions canoe landing. , "This morning the Sergt. of the Guard reported the absence of one of the large perogues. it had broken the chord by which it was attached and the tide had taken it off... we now directed three of the perogues to be drawn up out of reach of the tide and the fourth to be mored in the small branch just about the landing..." -- Captain Meriwether Lewis, January 14, 1806 , perogues - Lewis is referring to their canoes