
It receives over 85 inches of rainfall per year, nearly 2.5 times the national average. The region in which Lewis and Clark built Fort Clatsop is one of the rainiest places in North America. Lewis and Clark were part of the Corps of Discovery Expedition that explored the. On March 23, 1806, the Corps finally left Fort Clatsop for the long trip back to Missouri. Learn about the 8,000 mile Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific Northwest.

William Clark worked on drafting the map of lands they had explored, including one that traced their path all of the way from Fort Mandan to Fort Clatsop, which would be valuable to future travelers. Meriwether Lewis was, however, able to document the region’s plant and animal life as well as the Native Americans who lived there. According to one traveler, there were only twelve rainless days the entire winter! The constant rain led to many in the Corps to contract colds and flus and others, including Meriwether Lewis, to become depressed. The Corps stayed at Fort Clatsop for four months hunting the small elk population that lived near the estuary, making clothes from elk hide, trying desperately to make fires with wet wood, and engaging in laborious tasks to keep up the maintenance of the fort in the wake of constant wet conditions.

Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, Charbonneau, and baby Jean Baptiste would stay in one cabin, while the remainder of the Corps lived in the other. The men worked through a constant rain to build Fort Clatsop - two rough cabins about fifty feet in length that would hold 32 men, one woman, one baby and a dog. To learn more, call 1-50.The winter of 1805-1806 was miserable in the Pacific Northwest. The park is open an hour later from mid-June through Labor Day, with daily admission including a 3 day use of shuttle bus service to other historic sites - costs. Amazing facts about american history, native american history. In fall, winter and spring, the site is open from 9 a.m. Watch this video and learn all about Lewis and Clark Expedition - Fort Mandan and Sacagawea. Fort Clatsop (92343 Fort Clatsop Rd.) is about 6 miles southwest of town and roughly 3 miles southeast of Business U.S. Highways 30 and 26/101 meet in far northwestern Oregon. We sat in replicas of the Corps of Discovery's dugout canoes–none too large or comfortable! We also had fun participating in a fire-starting demonstration, one of several programs led by costumed rangers during summer.Īstoria is where U.S. Route of the expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or Corps of Discovery. The encampment was located on the Missouri River approximately twelve miles (19 km) from the site of present-day Washburn, North Dakota, which developed later.The precise location is not known for certain. The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, and such principal streams of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia. For Lewis and Clark, see Lewis and Clark (disambiguation). Fort Mandan was the name of the encampment which the Lewis and Clark Expedition built for wintering over in 18041805. To Meriwether Lewis, Esquire, Captain of the First Regiment of Infantry of the United States of America.

The site includes an authentic replica of the fort, just 50 feet square. This article is about the early 19th century expedition. To mark the bicentennial of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's famed journey west, my husband and I visited Fort Clatsop outside Astoria, Oregon to see where the Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1805-06.įort Clatsop is part of the new Lewis and Clark National Historic Park, spread out over a dozen sites in Washington and Oregon.
