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Historical Background

Homeward bound at last

The weather remained so wet and depressing that the planned departure was moved up from April 1 to March 20, but heavy rains caused a few more days' delay. On the 22d an advance hunting party was dispatched. That same day, Lewis and Clark said goodbye to their friend Chief Comowool and presented Fort Clatsop and its furniture to him. [128]

The following morning was so wet and cloudy—like the departure date so long ago from Camp Wood—that the start was again held up. But, as the weather cleared, the three large and two small canoes were loaded. [129] The men's spirits soared with the thought that they were finally homeward bound. At 1:00 p.m. they paddled a few miles down the river they knew as the Netul and turned up the Columbia.

Hunting remained a day-to-day affair requiring the full-time services of the best woodsmen. They shot mainly elk, but also an occasional deer; these needed to be supplemented with dogs, dried fish, and roots, purchased from the natives along the Lower Columbia. Otherwise, the latter were even more irksome than on the outbound trip. Probably only the size of the expedition prevented serious harm from befalling it.

Even rigid security and threats failed to stop Indian vandalism and the pilfering of tomahawks, tools, cutlery, and other objects. Catching one culprit in the act, the exasperated Lewis, in a rare display of temper, dealt him several severe blows and kicked him out of camp. On another occasion, Scannon was stolen and only recovered when a search party caught up with the thieves, who then abandoned him.

The weather on the lower reaches of the river was as bad as it had been the year before. Fog, mist, and overcast skies obscured visibility and prevented celestial observations. Continual rain lowered morale and dampened equipment. Gales sometimes whipped the waters into wild turbulence and created insurmountable waves. The boats often had to be hurriedly beached to avoid their destruction.

But yet there were major differences with the westbound journey. This time, the vicious current had to be fought, and spring runoff from the mountains had gorged the Columbia. This time, the boats usually hugged the south, instead of the north, bank of the Lower Columbia. This time, the Williamette River, known as the Multnomah to Lewis and Clark, which they had heard of from the Indians at Fort Clatsop and whose course they had speculated on, was explored. On the way downstream, it had been missed because islands obscured its mouth. The same thing occurred en route upstream, but Indians later told the two captains about it, and Clark retraced his steps. With seven men and an Indian guide, on April 2-3 he probed its lower reaches for about 10 miles southward to the site of the city of Portland.

Another major exception on the homeward trek up the Columbia was the use of horses, instead of boats, beginning at The Dalles. In the treacherous Cascades, on April 12, one of the large canoes was swept away and was replaced the next day by two small canoes, obtained from the Indians. Finding The Dalles, too, even more formidable than the previous fall because of the higher water, Lewis and Clark cut up some of the remaining canoes for firewood and sold others to the Indians. From this point on, horses, in scant supply in this stretch of the lower river, began to be purchased from the Indians and in at least one instance hired. [130]

On April 21 a Nez Perce, who said he knew the route to his home country, joined the expedition, as did also another Nez Perce and his family 2 days later. On the following day, Lewis and Clark broke up the last of the canoes and moved on by land. They bypassed Celilo Falls, detouring via the high land around the canyon, and pushed forward along the north bank of the river into the plains region of the Upper Columbia.

Another substantive difference on the upriver journey was the use of an overland shortcut between the Columbia and the Clearwater that eliminated practically the entire extent of the Snake and saved about 80 miles. The commanders learned of it from Walla Walla Chief Yellept, who said it ran over an extensive plain, where grass, water, and deer and antelope were plentiful.

The reunion with Yellept, on April 27, was a happy one. Two days earlier, the first of his people, who included 150 men, had begun to be encountered. The chief, whom the captains found to be as honest as he was warmhearted, not only provided firewood and food and sold them numerous dogs but also entertained them royally during their 3-day visit. He persuaded some of his upstream neighbors, the Yakimas, who were in the same language family as his tribe, to come to his village to dance. At the festivities, about 100 Yakima men, who were accompanied by a few women, danced. Some of the men in the Lewis and Clark contingent also danced for and with the Indians to the tune of Cruzatte's fiddle.

Communication with Yellept was better than on the downriver trip, when sign language had been utilized, because a Shoshoni woman prisoner was discovered who could translate from Walla Walla into Shoshoni to Sacagawea, who converted the message into Minitari and transmitted it to Charbonneau. The chief presented a fine white horse to Clark; in return, the supply of trade goods critically low, Clark gave him his sword, 100 balls and powder, and a few small articles. During the stay, Clark also ministered medically to Yellept's band.

On April 28, preparatory to taking the shortcut recommended by Yellept, the horses were swum across the Columbia at the mouth of the Walla Walla, which entered the Columbia from the east some distance downstream from the Snake. The next day, using two canoes Yellept made available, the men and the baggage crossed, along with the chief and a few of his people. The following morning, two more horses were purchased from the Indians, which brought the total to 23.

Everything in readiness, Lewis and Clark took leave of Yellept and set out over the shortcut. It consisted of a group of Indian trails that ran northeastward along the Touchet River past present Waitsburg and Dayton, Wash., then left the Touchet and ended at a point on the Snake River about 7 miles below its confluence with the Clearwater. On May 1 the Nez Perce family departed, leaving the one guide. Two days later, the day before the trek over the shortcut ended, a Nez Perce band was encountered.