This Soggy, Flea-Ridden Oregon Fort Nearly Broke Lewis & Clark on Their Epic Journey West

Fort Clatsop, Oregon

Winter 1805 was brutal for Lewis and Clark. Rain soaked everything. Food ran low. Morale crashed.

But somehow, in the soggy Oregon coast, they built Fort Clatsop and survived four miserable months that changed American history forever.

Here’s how a hastily built fort became the symbol of westward expansion.

Fort Clatsop

Fort Clatsop marked the western endpoint of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, serving as their winter home from December 1805 to March 1806.

The fort stood along the Netul River (now called Lewis and Clark River) at the north end of Clatsop Plains, five miles southwest of present-day Astoria, Oregon.

President Thomas Jefferson had sent them to find a way to the Pacific Ocean. After they reached the ocean, they needed a place to stay before going back east.

This became the first American army post west of the Rocky Mountains.

The group had Captains Lewis and Clark, their soldiers, French-Canadian trader Toussaint Charbonneau, his Shoshone wife Sacagawea, their baby Jean Baptiste, and Clark’s slave York.

They lived there from December 8, 1805, to March 23, 1806.

A Vote to Cross the Columbia

In late November 1805, the group had to decide where to spend winter. Local Clatsop Indians said they should move to the south side of the Columbia River, away from their camp in Washington.

The captains let everyone vote on what to do. Both Sacagawea and York got to vote with everyone else – this was huge for a time when women and black people couldn’t vote in America.

The team had three choices: stay on the Washington side eating fish in endless rain, move up the river, or listen to the Clatsops and go south of the Columbia. They picked going south, trusting what their Native American neighbors told them.

Finding the Right Winter Spot

Lewis took five men to check out the south side while Clark stayed with everyone else. Lewis looked for good land with lots of elk, like the Clatsops had said.

The search was tough. Lewis couldn’t find the elk herds, and Clark got worried when days went by without hearing from his friend.

While Lewis looked around, the rest of the group fixed clothes that got torn during their long trip west. Lewis finally came back to their Tongue Point camp with good news: he’d found a decent spot with enough animals to hunt for winter food.

On December 7, 1805, everyone started the short trip to their new home.

Building the Winter Fort

Work started December 9, 1805, with men building fast even though it kept raining. Clark drew plans for a 50-foot square fort with two buildings facing each other.

The team split up jobs – some hunted for food while others cut down trees. On December 11, they put up the first building’s log walls without taking off the bark, rushing to finish before winter got worse.

The wood gave them trouble. Clark wrote that the fallen trees “Split verry badly into boards,” making it hard to build roofs and floors.

Even with these problems and constant rain, the hard-working team finished enough to move in on Christmas Day, 1805.

Life Inside the Wooden Fort

Fort Clatsop had two main buildings with walls and gates at each end of a middle yard. One building had three rooms for the soldiers, while the other had the captains’ room, the Charbonneau family room, an office, and a storage room.

Wood chimneys gave them heat and places to cook, with a special one on the captains’ building. Joseph Fields built a table and two chairs for the captains on December 26.

Fleas made life awful, though.

Clark said they were “So troublesome that I have Slept but little for 2 nights past,” probably from the elk skins they used for beds.

Hunting in the Rainy Winter

The Pacific Northwest winter brought endless rain to Fort Clatsop. During their 106 days there, only 12 days had no rain and just 6 days had sun.

Hunting teams killed more than 100 elk and 20 deer, giving them food even though meat went bad fast in the wet weather. They turned animal skins into new shoes and clothes to replace their worn-out stuff.

By late winter, eating elk every day got old, and the herds became harder to find as they moved away.

Making Salt at the Beach

On December 28, 1805, three men set up a salt-making camp near present-day Seaside, Oregon. Salt was needed to keep meat fresh and stay healthy, and they were running low after their long trip west.

The salt-makers built a stone fire pit and put five pots over flames, boiling ocean water all the time to get salt for everyone.

Clark went to the salt camp in early January 1806 while checking on news about a dead whale. Local people helped find this spot in 1900, and it was given to the National Park Service in 1978-1979.

Going Over the Mountain for Whale Fat

In early January 1806, Clatsop visitors told them about a dead whale south of Fort Clatsop. Clark took 12 men to get whale fat and oil for food.

Sacagawea insisted on coming to see both the Pacific Ocean and the whale. Their Clatsop guide warned them about going over Tillamook Head, calling the mountain trail “Pe Shack” (bad) in his language.

Even with the warning, they climbed the steep mountain. From the 1,000-foot top (really 1,136 feet), Clark saw “the grandest and most pleasing prospects which my eyes ever surveyed” – the huge Pacific Ocean going on forever.

Finding the Dead Whale

Clark’s group walked down to present-day Cannon Beach, reaching a stream he named “Ecola Creek” using the Chinook word for whale. On January 8, 1806, they found local Tillamook Indians had already taken most meat from the 105-foot whale body.

The Tillamooks cooked whale fat in wooden bowls using hot rocks to get oil, which they stored in bags made from whale guts.

Clark’s group traded for 300 pounds of whale fat and several containers of whale oil. During this visit, a Tillamook woman warned Clark about a plan to hurt team member Hugh McNeal, probably saving his life.

Getting Along with Local Tribes

The Clatsop tribe, with about 200 people in several villages, gave the fort its name.

By 1805, these coastal tribes often traded with British and American ships, asking for higher prices than the expedition could pay as their trade stuff ran out.

The team traded for fish like sturgeon and eulachon (oily fish), wapato roots, woven mats, and waterproof pointed hats. Unlike their close friendships with the Mandan tribe, relationships with these coastal people stayed more distant and sometimes tense.

Chief Coboway stayed friendly throughout their visit. Before leaving, Lewis gave him a paper dated March 19, 1806, listing team members, something Coboway kept for years.

Writing Down What They Learned

Being stuck inside during winter gave them good time for writing. Lewis and Clark wrote their most important notes about science, maps, and cultures while at Fort Clatsop.

They started putting together their “Estimate of Western Indians,” listing tribes they’d met with details about how many people and where they lived.

Clark drew detailed maps that became some of the expedition’s most valuable work.

Talking with local Native Americans about travel routes, they learned they’d taken a harder Rocky Mountain path than needed. Using this local knowledge, they planned better routes for going home.

Lewis carefully wrote down stuff about local plants, animals, land, and native cultures that proved very helpful to future scientists, settlers, and government people.

Visiting Fort Clatsop

After the expedition left, the original Fort Clatsop slowly rotted in the wet climate.

Interest in the site grew around 1900, when the Oregon Historical Society bought a three-acre plot identified as the fort’s location through expedition maps, surveys, and stories from local residents.

In 1955, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, a replica of the fort was built based on Clark’s floor plan. Fort Clatsop became a National Memorial in 1958.

In 2004, the site became part of the larger Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.

Today’s park includes not only the fort reconstruction but also the salt works site in Seaside and a 6.5-mile Fort to Sea Trail that follows the expedition’s path to the Pacific Ocean.

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