The Corps of Discovery was also in the Columbia River Basin on this day in 1805. The journal entries for October 14, 1805 noted the difficulties the party encountered on this particular day. At least three of the canoes, made of Ponderosa pine, had stuck on rocks in an earlier navigation of the rapids. One canoe filled with water and sank. The party lost bedding, clothes, skins, roots, and a tent. They, like us, noted the lack of trees in the area. For the Corps of Discovery this was the impetus for their breaking a self imposed rule; never take anything belonging to the Indians. They took "...a part of the split timber we find here buried for firewood, as no other is to be found in any direction."
The landscape offered both of us, the Corps in 1805, and our guests on the Sea Lion, an exceptional look at a timeless, stark and beautiful terrain.
