December 30, 1805
The fort was completed and a rule was put in place that the Indians must leave each evening at sunset when the gates would be shut. The hunters brought 4 freshly killed Elk to the fort, which was welcome after eating the spoiled food for so long. Clark wrote in his journal that this day was the best they’d had since being there, with only three showers of rain.

January 1, 1806
New Year 1806 was brought in by the firing of small arms and shouts of ‘Happy New Year’. Lewis and Clark issued orders to the members of the Corps of Discovery containing the rules that were to be adhered to in the fort.

The fort was visited by many Indians who wanted to trade. One of the Indians traded dogs for fishing hooks. Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal that he and the men had become fond of dog flesh since having to eat it earlier in the expedition. They now preferred it to venison and elk. The men began to make moccasins and clothes from the animal skins.

January 5, 1805
Two of the men who had been to the coast to collect salt, returned with some whale blubber that they’d been given by some Indians. They found the blubber very palatable and decided that William Clark should set out, with a party of men, in search of the dead whale it had come from. They included Sacagawea in the party as she had expressed her wish to see the whale and the ocean.

January 8, 1805
After an arduous journey, that included climbing a steep mountain, Clark and his party reached the whale. It had been completely stripped of everything useful leaving just the skeleton behind. Clark measured the skeleton and recorded it as 105 feet long. They traded with some Indians to get as much blubber and oil as they could.

January 10, 1805
After a 35 mile return journey, Clark and his party arrived back at Fort Clatsop.

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