The Volcanoes of Lewis and ClarkApril 6 - 8, 1806 |
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-- The Volcanoes of Lewis and Clark Map of the Journey -- Volcanoes, Basalt Plateaus, Major Rivers, etc. CALENDAR of the Journey -- October 1805 to June 1806 Along the Journey -- Pacific Northwest Maps - Columbia River, Volcanoes, Flood Basalts, Missoula Floods, Geology, etc. The Corps of Discovery -- The Journey of Lewis and Clark About the Reference Materials -- The Journals, Biddle/Allen, DeVoto, Gass, Moulton, Topo Maps, and others USGS Lewis and Clark Links -- Links to USGS Websites highlighting the Lewis and Clark Journey Resources Publications Referenced and Websites Visited |
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April 4-5 Back on the Columbia, The Willamette Valley |
April 6-8
Columbia River Gorge, Cottonwood Beach Camp to Shepperd's Dell Cottonwood Beach Camp, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Crown Point, Prominent Lava Flows and Other Features, Boring Lava Field, Steigerwald Lake NWR, Rooster Rock and Rooster Rock State Park, Shepperd's Dell and Shepperd's Dell State Park |
CONTINUE
April 9 Columbia River Gorge, Shepperd's Dell to Bonneville |
| On October 7, 1805, Lewis and Clark and the "Corps of Discovery" began their journey down the Clearwater River and into the volcanics of the Pacific Northwest. The Corps travelled from the Clearwater to the Snake and down the "Great Columbia", finally reaching the Pacific Ocean on November 15, 1805. Along the journey they encountered the lava flows of the Columbia Plateau, river channels carved by the great "Missoula Floods", and the awesome beauty of five Cascade Range volcanoes. |
| The Volcanoes of Lewis and Clark |
| Heading Home - April 1806 |
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Columbia River Gorge
Cottonwood Beach Camp to Shepperd's Dell |
| Between March 31 and April 6, 1806 the Corps of Discovery camped near present day Cottonwood Beach in Washougal. From this campsite, William Clark also led a group of men back down the Columbia to discover the Willamette River, which they had missed on both their outward and return voyages. |
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Cottonwood Beach:
Cottonwood Beach: Between March 31 and April 6, 1806 the Corps of Discovery camped near present day Cottonwood Beach in Washougal. From this campsite, William Clark also led a group of men back down the Columbia to discover the Willamette River, which they had missed on both their outward and return voyages. Presently, the cities of Washougal and Camas, Port of Camas/Washougal, and the Clark County Parks Department, are collaborating on creating a regional park at this location and it has been named Capt. William Clark Park at Cottonwood Beach. -- City of Washougal, Washington, Website, 2002 |
| Having made our preparations of dried meat, we set out [Lewis and Clark are entering the scenic Columbia River Gorge] ...... |
| "... This morning we had the dryed meat secured in skins and the canoes loaded; we took breakfast and departed at 9 A.M. we continued up the N. side of the river nearly to the place at which we had encamped on the 3rd of Nov. [an error, Camp of November 3, 1805 was near Government Island, downstream of Cottonwood Camp. The Camp of November 2, 1805 was on the Oregon side near Rooster Rock.] when we passed the river to the south side in quest of the hunters we had sent up yesterday and the day before. ..." [Lewis, April 6, 1806] |
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Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area:
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area: Lewis and Clark have once again entered what is today the "Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area". The Columbia River Gorge is a spectacular river canyon cutting the only sea-level route through the Cascade Mountain Range. The Gorge is 80 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep, with the north canyon walls in Washington State and the south canyon walls in Oregon State. The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is located east of Portland along both sides of the Columbia River (Approximately 95 miles in length from Troutdale, Oregon, east to Biggs Junction, Oregon) Visitor Centers located at Skamania Lodge, Multnomah Falls, Gorge Discovery Center (the Dalles); and Bonneville Dam. -- U.S. Forest Service Website, 2002, and Lewis and Clark Bicentennial "lewisandclar200.gov" Website, 2002 |
| As Lewis and Clark entered the Columbia River Gorge, the massive basalt cliff of Crown Point was on their right. |
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Crown Point:
Crown Point: Crown Point and Vista House are located 11 miles east of Troutdale, Oregon. The Vista House was built in 1916 at the same time as Highway 30 (what is now the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway, and the only way to reach Crown Point). The building was designed to be a place of refreshment and enjoyment of the Columbia Gorge. The octagonal building with its copper dome now houses a museum, gift shop and interpretive display of historic and geologic points of interest in the Gorge. -- Beeson and Tolan, 1987, and Oregon State Parks and Recreation Website, 2002 Prominent Lava Flows and Other Features: Crown Point is a portion of the Priest Rapids intracanyon flow, which totally destroyed the second ancestral Columbia River channel through the Cascade Range about 14.5 million years ago. The single Priest Rapids flow which filled and overflowed the ancestral Columbia River canyon at Crown Point consists of 508 feet of hackly jointed basalt which in turn overlies more than 198 feet of bedded Priest Rapids hyaloclastite. Below and to the west of Crown Point is Rooster Rock slide block and the Crown Point landslide. To the south and west of Crown Point, the slide plane of the Crown Point landslide is probably the unconformable contact between the younger Priest Rapids intracanyon flow and earlier Columbia River basalt flows or the older volcanic rocks. On the north side of the river, west of Cape Horn, a remnant of the 12-million-year-old Pomona intracanyon flow, along with the Grande Ronde flows which formed the canyon wall, can be seen, marking the northern margin of the east-west-trending Bridal Veil Channel. Just west of there a post-Pomona lower member sandstones and conglomerates of the Troutdale Formation can be seen on a face cliff. Mount Zion is a Boring Lavas volcano that postdates the Troutdale Formation. A small basaltic-andesite intracanyon flow filling a channel cut in to the top of the Troutdale Formation can be seen emanating from Mount Zion. Similar vents in the Portland, Oregon, area are inferred to be less than 730,000 years old. Far up the gorge is Beacon Rock, a post-Columbia River basalt volcanic neck. -- Beeson and Tolan, 1987 |
| by nine o'clock, and continued along the north side of the river [Washington State] for a few miles [today this area is part of the Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge, southeast of Washougal, Washington], and then crossed to the river [Oregon] to look for the hunters, who had been sent forward the day before yesterday. |
| "... We had a fine morning with some fog; about 10 o'clock we set out; passed a beautiful prairie on the north side, which we could not see for the fog as we went down; ..." [Gass, April 6, 1806] |
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Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge:
Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge consists of more than 950 acres of historic lakebed and river bottomland habitat with wetlands, riparian areas, grasslands, and hardwood forest. The refuge, which provides habitat for wintering waterfowl and year-round habitat fro a variety of wildlife species, can be viewed from Washington State Highway 14. -- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Website, 2003 |
| We found them at the upper end of the bottom with some Indians, for we are never freed from the visits of the natives. They had killed three elk, and wounded two others so badly, that it was still possible to get them. We therefore landed, and having prepared scaffolds and secured the five elk, we encamped for the night [Shepperd's Dell vicinity] ...... |
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Shepperd's Dell:
Shepperd's Dell State Park: In 1915, a local dairy farmer named George Sheppherd gave all that he had (this tract of land) to the City of Portland as a memorial to his wife. Today, thousands of visitors along the Historic Columbia River Highway visit this beautiful spot, with its roaring waterfall cascading down steep cliffs into Youngs Creek and out to the Columbia River far below. The upper fall is around 42' tall. The lower tier is around 50' tall. One of the most beautiful and historic highway bridges crosses the canyon here, but you can't see or appreciated it unless you leave your car and take the short trail to the falls. Shepperd's Dell State Park is located along Historic Columbia River Highway, 14 miles east of Troutdale, Oregon. -- Oregon State Parks and Recreation Website, 2002 |
| "... from the appearance of a rock near [Rooster Rock] which we were encamped on the 3rd of November last [*** an error, Camp of November 3, 1805 was near Government Island, Camp of November 2, 1805 was near Rooster Rock, downstream of Shepperd's Dell] I could judge better of the rise of the water than I could at any point below. I think the flood of this spring has been about 12 feet higher than it was at that time; the river is here about 1 1/2 miles wide; it's general width from the beacon rock which may be esteemed the head of tide water, to the marshey islands [area of Lewis and Clark National Wildlife Refuge, near the mouth of the Columbia] is from one to 2 miles tho' in many places it is still wider. it is only in the fall of the year when the river is low that the tides are persceptable has high as the beacon rock. this remarkable rock which stands on the North shore of the river is unconnected with the hills and rises to the hight of seven hundred feet; it has some pine or reather fir timber on it's nothern side, the southern is a precipice of it's whole hight. it rises to a very sharp point and is visible for 20 miles below on the river ... [See April 9, 1806 entry for more information about Beacon Rock] ... ..." [Lewis, April 6, 1806] |
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Rooster Rock and Rooster Rock State Park:
Rooster Rock State Park: Interpretive sign marks where the Corps camped. Enjoy three miles of sandy beaches and a swimming area. Rooster Rock State Park is located 22 miles east of Portland, Oregon, along Interstate 84. -- Washington State Tourism Website, 2002, and Oregon Parks and Recreation Website, 2002 |
| "... proceeded on about 9 miles and came to our hunters' camp. They had killed 5 elk, so we halted, sent out for the meat and began to dry it. We are now at the head of the Columbia valley; which is a fine valley about 70 miles long, abounding with roots of different kinds, which the natives use for food, especially the Wapto roots which they gather out of the ponds. The timber is mostly of the fir kind, with some cherry, dogwood, soft maple and ash; and a variety of shrubs which bear fruit of a fine flavour, that the natives make use of for food. ..." [Gass, April 6, 1806] |
| "... a clear pleasant morning. we loaded up and Set out proceeded on verry well about 8 miles and halted at the Camp of our hunters they having killed 3 Elk in a bottom S side 8 men went out for the meat ... in the evening the men returned with the meat of 5 Elk having found 2 more than they expected which the hunters had killed. So we Camped here for the night in a Small willow bottom near high river hills on South Side ..." [Ordway, April 6, 1806] |
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The Camp - April 6 through April 8, 1806:
Lewis and Clark camped for three nights in the area of today's Shepperd's Dell State Park, Oregon. |
| The weather having been fair and pleasant, had dried a sufficient quantity of meat to serve us far as the Chopunnish, with occasional suppies, if we can procure them, of dogs, roots, and horses. In the course of the day several parties of Shahalas, from a village eight miles above us, came to visit us, and behaved themselves very properly, except that we were obliged to turn one of them from the camp for stealing a piece of lead. Every thing was now ready for our departure. |
| " ... This was a pleasant day, but cloudy. Three hunters went on ahead again and the rest of the party remained drying meat to subsist on while we passed the Columbia plains, as there is no game in that part of the country, according to the accounts given by the natives, who are daily coming down; and say that those remaining in the plains are in a starving condition, and will continue so until the salmon begin to run, which is very soon expected. We continued here all day ..." [Gass, April 7, 1806] |
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The Camp - April 6 through April 8, 1806:
Lewis and Clark camped for three nights in the area of today's Shepperd's Dell State Park, Oregon. |
| In the morning The wind blew with great violence, and we were obliged to unload our boats, which were soon after filled with water. The same cause prevented our setting out to-day; we therefore despatched several hunters round the neighbourhood, but in the evening they came back with nothing but a duck. ...... |
| " ... This was a fine morning, but the wind blew so hard from the north-east, that it was impossible to go on; and about 8 o'clock the swells ran so high, that we had to unload our canoes, and haul some of them out of the water to prevent their being injured. ... Two hunters, who had gone out in the morning, returned, but had killed nothing, except a beautiful small duck. ..." [Gass, April 8, 1806] |
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The Camp - April 6 through April 8, 1806:
Lewis and Clark camped for three nights in the area of today's Shepperd's Dell State Park, Oregon. |
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