Astoria: Final winter camp sight for Lewis and Clark, November 1805 until March 1806
The Sea Lion’s wakeup call was made on approach to the Columbia River bar. Our vessel was moving through five foot swells just outside of buoy number 12 in the outgoing shipping lane of the Columbia River bar. Captain Carden kept the Sea Lion positioned into the waves, where we remained for about one half hour. Upon a signal from the Bridge, those of us who remained on the bow were instructed to keep one hand for the ship as we began our turn broadside to the swells. Expertly maneuvered, the Sea Lion then began her return to the Columbia River Maritime museum dock where we would remain for the day.
Our first destination for the day was the beautiful wave shaped building just a few steps from where the Sea Lion was docked. Founded in 1962, this museum is one of the finest maritime museums in the nation. Six galleries, the Great Hall and the Lightship Columbia interpret the Pacific Northwest’s rich maritime history.
Several options were offered for the morning, along with free time to explore the town of Astoria, the oldest sea port on the west coast of the United States. Astoria was founded in 1811 by John Jacob Astor, owner of the Pacific Fur company. One of our morning options included a visit up to the Astoria Column. The column is located on a high vantage point which gave us a good view of the area where the Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1805-06. They constructed Ft. Clatsop in just a few weeks, in December, 1805, and settled in for a very soggy stay – it rained every day, save eleven! It was at this site that Lewis did some of his most important naturalist work, and Clark refined what was to become his definitive map of the Western U.S. A sub-party was sent down the coast to boil sea water for salt, ultimately producing five bushels of the precious commodity, and another diversion occurred when they learned of a whale that had been beached. Even Sacagawea went to see the “big fish.” Wet and longing for home and hearth, the expedition departed Ft. Clatsop on March 23, 1806, and began their six month journey back to St. Louis.
Just after lunch, we made a short bus trip across the Columbia River to the Washington state side of the river to a Lewis and Clark interpretive center at Cape Disappointment. Our weather was much like the weather Lewis and Clark had encountered and lived with for their stay in the Pacific Northwest. Once inside the interpretive center, we had our first clear view of the Cape Disappointment lighthouse. Built in 1856, this lighthouse is the oldest in use on the Pacific Coast. The light guards one of the most treacherous waterways in the world. Ironworks crowning this tower are the second shipped here from the East coast. The first set sank in a shipwreck at the mouth of the Columbia River. Gargoyles rimming the lighthouse roof spout water, especially today in the 30 knot winds outside the interpretive center! These spouts were not designed for the 90 inches of annual rainfall, but the condensed water vapor from the burning of whale oil that once illuminated this lighthouse.
British explorer, Captain Meares passed through this area in 1788 and named it Cape Disappointment in frustration….he was not able to find the mouth of the mighty Columbia River, that he knew existed along this section of the North American coast. Then in 1792, Captain Robert Gray sailed his Columbia Rediviva across the treacherous bar and into the mouth of that same large western river. By 1805, hundreds of vessels from many nations had made a similar journey. This dramatic and dangerous river entrance had challenged mariners and explorers like Lewis and Clark for many years and continues to this day to be one of the most dangerous river bars in the world….at the same time, as Lewis and Clark reported in their journals back to President Jefferson, the future of the Columbia River would end up being a conduit for economic opportunity for those who came and settled the Pacific Northwest.
The Sea Lion’s wakeup call was made on approach to the Columbia River bar. Our vessel was moving through five foot swells just outside of buoy number 12 in the outgoing shipping lane of the Columbia River bar. Captain Carden kept the Sea Lion positioned into the waves, where we remained for about one half hour. Upon a signal from the Bridge, those of us who remained on the bow were instructed to keep one hand for the ship as we began our turn broadside to the swells. Expertly maneuvered, the Sea Lion then began her return to the Columbia River Maritime museum dock where we would remain for the day.
Our first destination for the day was the beautiful wave shaped building just a few steps from where the Sea Lion was docked. Founded in 1962, this museum is one of the finest maritime museums in the nation. Six galleries, the Great Hall and the Lightship Columbia interpret the Pacific Northwest’s rich maritime history.
Several options were offered for the morning, along with free time to explore the town of Astoria, the oldest sea port on the west coast of the United States. Astoria was founded in 1811 by John Jacob Astor, owner of the Pacific Fur company. One of our morning options included a visit up to the Astoria Column. The column is located on a high vantage point which gave us a good view of the area where the Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1805-06. They constructed Ft. Clatsop in just a few weeks, in December, 1805, and settled in for a very soggy stay – it rained every day, save eleven! It was at this site that Lewis did some of his most important naturalist work, and Clark refined what was to become his definitive map of the Western U.S. A sub-party was sent down the coast to boil sea water for salt, ultimately producing five bushels of the precious commodity, and another diversion occurred when they learned of a whale that had been beached. Even Sacagawea went to see the “big fish.” Wet and longing for home and hearth, the expedition departed Ft. Clatsop on March 23, 1806, and began their six month journey back to St. Louis.
Just after lunch, we made a short bus trip across the Columbia River to the Washington state side of the river to a Lewis and Clark interpretive center at Cape Disappointment. Our weather was much like the weather Lewis and Clark had encountered and lived with for their stay in the Pacific Northwest. Once inside the interpretive center, we had our first clear view of the Cape Disappointment lighthouse. Built in 1856, this lighthouse is the oldest in use on the Pacific Coast. The light guards one of the most treacherous waterways in the world. Ironworks crowning this tower are the second shipped here from the East coast. The first set sank in a shipwreck at the mouth of the Columbia River. Gargoyles rimming the lighthouse roof spout water, especially today in the 30 knot winds outside the interpretive center! These spouts were not designed for the 90 inches of annual rainfall, but the condensed water vapor from the burning of whale oil that once illuminated this lighthouse.
British explorer, Captain Meares passed through this area in 1788 and named it Cape Disappointment in frustration….he was not able to find the mouth of the mighty Columbia River, that he knew existed along this section of the North American coast. Then in 1792, Captain Robert Gray sailed his Columbia Rediviva across the treacherous bar and into the mouth of that same large western river. By 1805, hundreds of vessels from many nations had made a similar journey. This dramatic and dangerous river entrance had challenged mariners and explorers like Lewis and Clark for many years and continues to this day to be one of the most dangerous river bars in the world….at the same time, as Lewis and Clark reported in their journals back to President Jefferson, the future of the Columbia River would end up being a conduit for economic opportunity for those who came and settled the Pacific Northwest.
