Reaching the Pacific

I can only imagine what it must have felt like to finally lay eyes on the Pacific Ocean after so many months of travel.

Roadtripping in 1805

Getting There

One of the hallmarks of the Lewis and Clark expedition is the amount of help they received all along the way. If you add it up from their journals, Lewis and Clark established relations (or tried to) with up to fifty different tribes between St. Louis and the ocean and back again. The help of some of these tribes and the generosity of their leaders proved indispensible to the success of their journey. I’ve already talked about the Mandans who made it possible for them to set up camp and survive the winter near present-day Bismarck, North Dakota. As they approached the mountains, it was the Shoshones who provided the horses and trail guides who got them across the Rocky Mountains.

When they emerged from the mountains, starving and exhausted, the Nez Perce literally brought them back to life and guided them to the Clearwater and Snake Rivers that eventually brought them to the Columbia. They also taught them a more efficient way to make canoes, charring the logs first, which made it easier to dig out the insides. As they went down the Columbia headed for the Pacific, the Nez Perce stayed with them, showing the men how to get through the difficult rapids and falls of the Columbia River Gorge, and providing them with dogs they used as their protein (yes, you read that right - they preferred dog meat to salmon after getting very sick after coming out of the mountains and thinking it was the salmon they had eaten).

As the expedition neared the ocean, the Nez Perce faded to the background and were replaced by the Chinooks, who were master boatmen and traders throughout the region surrounding the mouth of the mighty Columbia River. The Chinooks brought food to the men when they were trapped by seemingly endless storms and rough tides in a niche on the edge of the Columbia (now called Dismal Nitch). The high cliffs behind them and the stormy waters in front of them kept them pinned in a tiny area for days and days. They were sopping wet and had no idea how they would survive. Then the Indians showed up seemingly out of nowhere with food, blankets, and dry clothes.

I’m standing near the spot where the explorers were pinned down at “Dismal Nitch.” They did not have the option of crossing the Columbia River by way of this four mile bridge you see in the distance.

The bad weather eventually broke, and finally Clark was able to lead a small group of explorers along the coast until he saw - without a doubt - the Pacific Ocean. (Clark was sure they had sighted the ocean even while they were miles from the end of the Columbia, and kept getting disappointed) With the help of the experienced Chinooks, they were able to find a place to spend the winter.

This is near the spot where Clark and his small group ventured several miles along the coast from Dismal Nitch and saw the Pacific for the first time (his journal also records that he saw a sturgeon on the beach and carved his name in a tree). Sadie is pretending she is Seaman.

No Longer in America

Once the men emerged from the Rockies and began the final leg of their journey to the Pacific, they were no longer in country considered under American control. Jefferson knew they would reach this point, and also knew that if the expedition made it to the Pacific, this would set the stage for eventual control of the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Jefferson had every intention of building the American empire all the way to the western edge of the continent. At the time of the expedition, this area west of the Rockies was considered by the Spanish to be under their control, and by the British as being theirs. Of course, this European jockeying over control of lands took no account whatsoever of the fact that there were probably hundreds of thousands of people who had been living on that land and “controlling” it for thousands of years at that point. All that mattered to the Europeans was who among them got the spoils of any “discoveries” that might be made. The word “discovery” itself implies that whatever gets “discovered” is automatically up for grabs. In this case it meant who got to control the commerce and flow of money and goods and people.

As we know, eventually Jefferson’s empire did indeed materialize, all the way to the Pacific. Lewis and Clark, forging ahead into territory where they had no permission to be, put that end result into motion. Was it inevitable?

Curiosities but No Fear

During the time they were passing through previously uncharted (by Europeans) territory, the Indians they encountered generally saw them as curiosities. A small group of people passing through was not all that unusual, but this group was unusual because a) they were white (with the exception of Sacagawea and the French Canadian mixed race interpreters), and b) they were not looking to trade anything or to establish trade relationships, at least not on this trip. They were exploring and documenting and mapping in a way that was unfamiliar to the Indians. The only trading they did was in exchange for the supplies they needed in order to continue their journey to the coast. For many of the tribes, this was the first time they had met white people, and York was the first and only Black person they had ever seen.

Lewis and Clark had to find ways to approach these strangers without instilling fear or hostility into them. The various Indian tribes lived in proximity of each other, and frequently clashed. Even for the more peaceful tribes, it was not a given that strangers they met would be friendly. All of the tribes, regardless of whether they were typically the aggressor or typically the defender, had a skilled warrior class who could provide protection when needed.

As the Corps made its way across the continent, Lewis and Clark perfected the art of disarming diplomacy. In addition to their own weapons, they always carried trinkets they could offer as gifts - beads, medals and medallions, flags. On the occasions when they were being approached by warriors who perceived them as hostile or viewed them with suspicion, they laid down their weapons and walked forward with their hands held high, signalling peaceful intent. I have to admire their courage in these situations, and the discipline of their men. One false move and it could have been all over for them. In negotiating with the different tribes for supplies or food, they often paid with guns, ammunition, hatchets and knives. There must have been an extraordinary amount of trust that developed for this to occur. And it clearly paid off.

The Indians were not afraid of the men (after all, they were outnumbered many times over), just wary until they determined their intentions. The tribes on the west coast had encountered many European and American visitors. Mostly, these visitors came to trade and got there by coming down through Canada or by boat down the east coast, around dangerous Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and then up the Pacific coast until they reached the mouth of the Columbia. The mouth of the Columbia was a major crossroads of trade, and the Indians who lived along the coast and intercoastal waterways had seen many outsiders come and go and had traded with them extensively. The messages that were about domination and control that Lewis so carefully crafted at the beginning of the trip, most likely were ignored by many tribal leaders on and near the coastal areas. These messages had been coming at them from the Spanish and English for years, with little to no change in lifestyle or land ranges up to that point. The mixed message of friendship, mutual profit, and overarching control from Washington, may have left some of the Indians confused and cautious, but their tribal values and customs dictated their open and helpful response to the expedition. Many, especially those who had had little contact with Europeans or Americans before meeting Lewis and Clark, had no reason (at first) to think that such kindnesses would not be reciprocated as the years went by.

A Unique Journey

Over the weeks I have been traveling close to the Lewis and Clark trail, I have developed an increasing appreciation for just what they did accomplish. Despite putting in motion the annihilation of Indian life as it had existed for centuries (which happened in the course of one generation), I believe that what they did should stand on its own merits as worthy of recognition. Until their expedition, no one group of explorers - Indian or European or American - had traversed the entire continent and recorded all the plant and animal life, the river systems, the mountains, the latitute and longitude, the weather, the geography, and on and on. The different tribes knew what they knew. There was no one tribe that knew the entire length of the landscape that Lewis and Clark travelled. That’s why it required numerous encounters with many different tribes and requests for help to get from one point on the map to the next.

There were some sections of the trip that had not been mapped at all by anyone. Lewis had the maps from Americans that went as far west as possible, and also had maps that had been made by the Europeans - mostly French, British or Spanish - who had come inland from the Pacific. But these maps only went so far, with no information as to what lay in between. As they met the Indians familiar with that middle section of the country, they began filling in more detail, refining it as they experienced it in real time. Clark, the master mapmaker, calculated that the expedition travelled a total of 4,162 miles from Camp Dubois (their winter site near St. Louis) to the Pacific. Turns out he was only off by about 40 miles. Pretty impressive!!

This is the map Clark constructed based on the trip. Besides just following the rivers straight to the coast, they made a number of side trips through the wilderness and along tributaries and other rivers they encountered along the way.

The Indian tribes that overlapped and fought with each other over resources such as buffalo, beaver or salmon, had fairly discreet boundaries and did not traditionally cross them. Maybe a kidnapping or hostage taking after a fight would bring someone from a different tribe into a new (to them) part of the country, but again, no one tribe had the knowledge of everything that lay between St. Louis and the mouth of the Columbia. It’s possible that there may have been individuals who had this knowledge, but there couldn’t have been many, and it wasn’t documented in a way that would be helpful to anyone else making the journey.

Another remarkable fact is that these men, plus Sacagawea and little Pomp, were able to make this journey happen (coming and going) with only one loss of life from the expedition (due to illness and not conflict) and only two Indians, who were from the Blackfeet tribe. It was an unpleasant and scary encounter that occurred during the return trip in 1806. Interestingly, the skirmish came after Lewis and three of his men had camped overnight in the same vicinity as eight Blackfeet teens they had met earlier in the day. In the morning, the boys tried to make off with Lewis’s horses and guns, and in the ensuing skirmish one boy was stabbed and another shot. Both died. The expedition members hurried out of the area to avoid capture and certain death by the Blackfeet community.

I’m sure cultural misunderstandings were frequent during the entire journey (although on the return trip they had the advantage of meeting some of the same people who had befriended them on the way out). As Lewis and Clark made their way across the continent and then back again, they tried to make friends and bring peace to all the people they met. They didn’t fully appreciate that some of the people they built trusting relationships with (Nez Perce, Shoshone, and Flathead, for example), had hostile relations with the Blackfeet. I’m sure word of their activities spread through the tribes, and the Blackfeet may have been understandably suspicious if they thought that Lewis was allied with their enemies. In such a case, it isn’t surprising that the young warriors would try to disarm them. They only had a rudimentary sign language to communicate with the Blackfeet, and errors were probably inevitable. Given all the challenges of communication, and the sadness that it happened at all, I still find it pretty incredible that these were the only Indian deaths during the entire expedition.

Lost Opportunity

At the end of the day, the remarkable accomplishment of their journey still needs to be looked at through the lens of lost opportunity. Yes, they were a product of their time, and this was the age in Europe of enlightenment and manifest destiny. That said, I wish that Lewis and Clark had not held onto those beliefs so rigidly and that, once they had formed meaningful relationships and even friendships, they had opened their hearts to the Indians in a different way. How might things have unfolded if Lewis and Clark and their men had fully embraced their new friends? What if Lewis had returned to Washington and provided a much different report to Jefferson, advising him against simply taking over the land and parceling it out among the European immigrants that were heading west. Different laws and treaties might have had different results.

Instead, Lewis and Clark mapped and recorded and observed and listed and collected. This included their efforts to record everything they could about the different tribes they met - language, dress, customs, food, habits, etc. They even arranged for some of the tribal chiefs to make trips to Washington. But all their observations and actions were in the context of their American empire-building lens and attitude of superiority. Everything they did was in the interest of bringing the Indians into the fold of America and the emerging empire. The melting pot, if you will. There was no curiosity or desire to learn anything about the Indian culture and practices that might provide insight into how they had existed for so long in one place. Many of the villages they visited were thriving communities, with thousands of people living together in peace. It seems that the Lewis and Clark mission was all about the eventual exploitation of resources and people to make way for the American settlers. All the information they gathered, including all the scientific observations, came from this perspective. They learned much from the Indians in terms of how to survive in the unfamiliar wilderness, but learned very little, if anything, that would provide insight into the communal way of life that had served them so well for hundreds and thousands of years.

And I can’t help thinking about how the attitudes of the American government as well as individuals toward the native population in 1805 mirrors the attitudes of our current American government and individuals today towards certain populations in our country. When will it stop and when will we finally, as a country and as individuals living in it, welcome and embrace all cultures and peoples regardless of where they come from and how different they may be from us? There is so much to be learned and appreciated from each other.

Ok, I’ll get off the soapbox…

End of the Trip

So I ended my historical pilgrimage much the way I began, with appreciation for what Lewis and Clark did, and sadness for the tragedies that erupted as the Indian tribes were pushed into smaller and smaller corners of their world from which there was no escape. The massacres that took place in the name of stamping out the Indian culture and way of life seem so unnecessary. Some languages and practices are already long gone. The fact that many tribes today are taking their futures into their own hands and reclaiming those ancient cultures and languages is heartening. I loved visiting the tribal museums and interpretive centers as much as I enjoyed visiting the Lewis and Clark sites. Many of the tribes they encountered I had never heard of (such was my education in the 1960’s and 70’s). When traveling across the country chasing Lewis and Clark, it was impossible for me to separate their journey from the changes that occurred in the territories and to the tribes after they left.

Clark would go on to become chief Indian agent for the Louisiana Territory and brigadier general of the territorial militia. He also held the position of governor of the Missouri Territory from 1813 to 1820. After Lewis’s death Clark was entrusted with the expedition's journals. He arranged for their editing and publication in 1814. Clark also served as Superintendent of Indian Affairs. He married, had several children, and died in 1838 at the age of 68. Clark did provide support for Jean Baptiste’s early education, as offered to and accepted by his parents.

Lewis was appointed by Jefferson to serve as the governor of the Louisiana territory. That didn’t last, however, and Lewis died in 1809 from a gunshot wound in Tennessee. While some think it was murder, the prevailing view is that he took his own life, having suffered from severe depression. There is some evidence for that view, as Jefferson himself noted that Lewis was depressed for long periods while he lived and worked at the White House before the expedition. There were also long periods during the expedition when Lewis made no journal entries at all, and Clark was left recording the events as they happened. Scholars speculate that Lewis was depressed at different points during the journey, and simply didn’t do any writing. He also often walked alone along the river, following the path of the boats. No one will ever know for sure why he died so young.

Roadtripping in 2025

The final days of my own trip to the Pacific were interesting, fun, and relaxing. I will provide a more detailed wrap-up of my westward journey in the next article, as I make the shift to focus on the eastward trip towards home. Stay tuned!

Native salmon fishing on the Klickitat River, a tributary of the Columbia. What a treat to see!