Fort Clatsop, Astoria, OR Lewis describes the edible thistle and how Chinookan Indians prepare and eat the plant’s sweet root. Shannon and Labiche return to Fort Clatsop having killed three elk.
Edible Thistle
Cirsium edule, Glade Creek below Packer Meadows
© 1 July 2009 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Three More Elk
Two of the hunters Shannon & Labuish [Labiche] returned having killed three Elk. Ordered a party to go in quest of the meat early tomorrow morning and the hunters to return and continue the chase.
—Meriwether Lewis
Edible Thistle Root
The root of the thistle, called by the natives shan-ne-táh-que is a perpendicular fusiform and possesses from two to four radicles; is from 9 to 15 Inces in length and about the size a mans thumb . . . . the consistence when first taken from the earth is white and nearly as crisp as a carrot; when prepared for uce by the same process before discribed of the white bulb or pashshequo quawmash [camas], it becomes black, and is more shugary than any fuit or root that I have met with in uce among the natives;
—Meriwether Lewis
Weather Diary
aspect of the weather at rise
Wind at Weather at 4 OC. P.M. Wind at 4 OC. P.M. cloudy after rain S. W. cloudy after rain S W wind hard this morning contued all day
—Meriwether Lewis[1]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the month” column and spelled out some abbreviations.
Fort Clatsop is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site is managed by the Lewis and Clark National and State Historic Parks.
Notes
| ↑1 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the month” column and spelled out some abbreviations. |
|---|
