Fort Clatsop / Stealing the Canoe

Members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition spent the winter of 1805-1806 in Clatsop territory.

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

92343 Fort Clatsop Rd, Astoria OR 97103

Significance:

Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the rest of their party spent the winter of 1805–1806 here in a wooden fort that they built, after receiving permission from Clatsop people to do so.

Designation:

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, National Register of Historic Places

Amenities

14 listed

Benches/Seating, Canoe/Kayak/Small Boat Launch, Gifts/Souvenirs/Books, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information - Ranger/Staff Member Present, Junior Ranger Activity, Parking - Auto, Parking - Bus/RV, Picnic Table, Restroom, Restroom - Accessible, Trailhead, Trash/Litter Receptacles, Wheelchair Accessible

Clatsop peoples’ homelands are south of the Columbia River, not far from the Pacific Ocean. They speak a Chinookan language and traded often with other people in villages up and down the river. Like other people living on the Lower Columbia River, they were expert canoe-makers and navigators.  

Coboway was the leader of a Clatsop village located in what is now Fort Stevens State Park. In the winter of 1805, Coboway gave Meriwether Lewis and William Clark his blessing to build a house in the area.  

Coboway and other Clatsop people visited and helped the expedition members many times during the winter of 1805–1806. They brought wapato, berries, fish, whale blubber, dogs, otter skins, cedar bark hats, and canoes to trade with the visitors in exchange for manufactured goods such as glass beads, files, razors, other tools, and thread. Sometimes Coboway stayed overnight, and Lewis showed off the air gun to him. Coboway and his friends also helped two of the expedition members, George Drouillard and Jean-Baptiste Lepage, carry the animals they hunted back to Fort Clatsop. 

Coboway was “the most friendly and decent” person in the area, wrote Lewis, after Coboway brought him a present of cured anchovies. 

Lewis knew they needed a new canoe for the journey home, and he had tried to buy one from Clatsop people. However, the items Lewis offered—including his fancy dress uniform—were not a sufficient trade for the valuable canoe.  

Rather than offer more, Lewis directed his men to steal a canoe: “we yet want another canoe, and as the Clatsops will not sell us one at a price which we can afford to give we will take one from them in lue of the six Elk which they stole from us in the winter.” But Coboway had already brought presents to make up for the stolen elk. 

And so, after all Coboway’s kindness and hospitality, Lewis and Clark broke the trust established through months of friendship and trade with Clatsop people and stole a canoe. 

About this article: This article is part of a series called “Pivotal Places: Stories from the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.”

Lewis and Clark NHT Visitor Centers and Museums

Visitor Centers (shown in orange), High Potential Historic Sites (shown in black), and Pivotal Places (shown in green) along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail