February 5, 1806
One of the men out hunting found the canoe that had been washed away on 11th January.

Over the winter, several of the men became ill with bad colds and flu, almost certainly brought on by the weather. They would all eventually make a full recovery. Both Lewis and Clark spent a good deal of their time describing the plant and animal life in their journals. William Clark completed a map of the route the Corps of Discovery had taken from Fort Mandan to Fort Clatsop. The map included the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Columbia and the smaller rivers along with their route across the Rockies. In Clark’s own words the whole map was ‘laid down by celestial observations and survey’. Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal ‘We now discover that we have found the most practicable and navigable passage across the Continent of North America’.

February 21, 1806
The salt camp was evacuated and the salt brought to the Fort Clatsop. 12 Gallons was packed and set aside for the return journey.

Towards the end of February the Elk had moved away towards the mountains making hunting them that much harder. However the Indians had managed to catch anchovies and sturgeon which they traded at the fort, giving a much enjoyed change of diet. In Early March another canoe was lost after coming loose from its mooring. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to find it.

Lewis and Clark tried to purchase canoes from the Indians but they were demanding too high a price. They eventually managed to procure one canoe but decided that they would steal another in lieu of six Elk that had been stolen from them during the winter. The expedition members began preparing for the return journey, and stole a canoe from the Clatsop Indians.

Lewis and Clark gave a list of the expedition’s member’s names to several of the Indians and pasted a copy in their room in the fort. On the reverse of these lists was a sketch showing the connection of the upper branches of the Missouri with those of the Columbia. Lewis explained the reason on the list and wrote it in his journal as follows:

‘The object of this list is, that through the medium of some civilized person who may see the same, it may be made known to the informed world, that the party consisting of the persons whoes names are hereunto annexed, and who were sent out by the government of the U' States in May 1804 to explore the interior of the Continent of North America, did penetrate the same by way of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, to the discharge of the latter into the Pacific Ocean, where they arrive on the 14th November 1805, and from whence they departed the [blank] day of March 1806 on their return to the United States by the same rout they had come out.’

Next Journal Summary