The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery built dugout canoes while still on the Missouri River heading west. Their keelboat and pirogues were too ungainly to continue to the headwaters. After obtaining horses from the Shoshone Indians they crossed the forbidding mountains to the Clearwater River where they once again built dugout canoes. In these vessels made of Ponderosa Pine logs they came down the Snake and Columbia Rivers to the sea.
On the south side of the Columbia River they erected a fort where they spent four wet and dismal months. It rained much of the time and they were in cramped quarters with wet clothing.
As we follow in the wake of their expedition, we see where they completed their westward journey. Here we look at a replica of the canoes they traveled in from the Clearwater River to the Pacific Ocean. A storm is presently blowing in off the ocean and it will be here soon, but right now in this peaceful place we can imagine that little has changed since they were here.
