Day-by-Day / March 21, 1806

March 21, 1806

Delayed by weather

Fort Clatsop, Astoria, OR Bad weather prevents the expedition from leaving for home. Provisions are low, so during the weather delay, hunters are dispatched without success.

Can’t Leave Yet[1]Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © … Continue reading

Weather Delay

As we could not set out we thought it best to send out some hunters and accordingly dispatched Sheilds [Shields] and Collins on this side the Netul for that purpose . . . . The hunters returned late in the evening unsucessfull.
Meriwether Lewis

Fort Clatsop Illnesses

our sick men Willard and bratton do not seem to recover; the former was taken with a violent pain in his leg and thye last night. Bratton is now so much reduced that I am somewhat uneasy with rispect to his recovery; the pain of which he complains most seems to be seated in the small of his back and remains obstinate. I beleive that it is the rheumatism with which they are both afflicted.—
—Meriwether Lewis

Buying Eulachon

a number of natives visited us with Some dryed Small fish to trade which they call in their language oll-can. we bought a fiew from them.
John Ordway

Chinookan Indians

about 10 o’clock we were visited by some of the Clat- sop Indians [Clatsops]. These, and the Chin-ook [Chinooks], Cath-la-mas [Kathlamets], Cal-a-mex [Tillamooks], and Chiltz [Lower Chehalis] nations, who inhabit the seacoast, all dress in the same manner . . . . These Indians on the coast have no horses, and very little property of any kind, except their canoes. The women are much inclined to venery, and like those on the Missouri are sold to prostitution at an easy rate. An old Chin-ook squaw frequently visited our quarters, with nine girls which she kept as prostitutes.
Patrick Gass

 

Weather Diary

Aspect of the weather at sun symbol Rise Wind at sun symbol rise Aspect of weather at 4 O’Ck P. M. Wind at 4 OCk. P. M.
rain after rain S W. cloudy after rain N. E.

rained all night at 9 A. M. wind changed to N E. and the rain ceased. cloudy the ballance of the day.
—Meriwether Lewis[3]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the Month” column and spelled out some of the abbreviations.

 

Notes

Notes
1 Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © 2003 by Yellowstone Public Radio.
2 Moulton, Journals, 9:278n1.
3 To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the Month” column and spelled out some of the abbreviations.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.