The enlisted men endure rain, hail, and snow as they work to complete Fort Clatsop. Several are assigned the task of making elk jerky before the meat spoils and others chink cabin walls or attempt to split boards to cover the huts.
Difficulties Staying Dry
Rainy Day at Netul Landing
© 11 November 2008 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The trees which our men have fallen latterly Split verry badly into boards. The most of our Stores are wet. our Leather Lodge has become So rotten that the Smallest thing tares it into holes and it is now Scrcely Sufficent to keep off the rain off a Spot Sufficiently large for our bead.
—William Clark
Smoking Elk Meat
The mountain [Saddle Mtn.] which lies S. E of this is covered with Snow to day & we fleece all the meat and hang it up over a Small Smoke
—William Clark
Fort Clatsop Finish Work
a little Snow and hail fell last night and continues this morning. we went at chinking up our huts and Splitting plank &C.
—John Ordway
Weather Diary
Day of the Month Winds State of the Weather 17th S W. fair after rain & hail rained all last night and to day untill 9 A M when we had a Shower of hail for an hour and Cleared off.
—Meriwether Lewis[1]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has spelled out some abbreviations.
Fort Clatsop is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site is managed by the Lewis and Clark National and State Historic Parks.
Notes
| ↑1 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has spelled out some abbreviations. |
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Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
- The Capital Gallery (Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation)
- Yellowstone Public Radio
Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).