[Snowbrushy]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/244316_horsey13.html

[Red Squatch]

Wow - interesting discovery! I've driven that stretch of highway many times, but never knew about Station Camp, myself.

[Snowshoe Hare]

A couple/three years ago C-Span had on an in-depth program about the Corps of Discovery (no doubt tied in with the date they left St Louis to begin the expedition) that included a segment with Rex Ziak filmed out near Station Camp/ Cape Disappointment area I seem to recall. Along with presenting his ideas he also read from the L&C journals. That was excellent history and TV. Thanks to him a missing piece of history was rediscovered and saved from oblivion (and under Hwy 101). His book In Full View (first edition 2002, second edition June 2005 paperback) sounds not only good for its info but reportedly has excellent maps and stunning photography by Ziak. C-Span gets laughed at for its dull congressional coverage but they have some real gold nugget programming. I was really bummed when their long-running Booknotes author-interview show ended. They also had a very interesting program not that long ago at Little Bighorn NM with a wide spectrum of guest historians, rangers, Native Americans discussing the battle and events before and after it. Again, great history and wonderful TV.

[Snowbrushy]

It remind's me of camping at 3rd Beach. This is what Clark wrote from Station Camp: Oh! How horrible is the day. This storm continued all day with equal violence accompanied with rain . . . The waves and breakers flew over our camp, one canoe split by the tossing of those waves. We are all confined to our camp, and wet.

[Snowshoe Hare]

I just finished the Rex Ziak (pronounced Zeek) In Full View , in which he details the month at the end of the Corps of Discovery journey west, from when they first spotted the Pacific Ocean and their subsequent search for a winter camp. Using excepts from Lewis & Clark's and other member's' journals, the author's own "foot" research along the final route & document research, and getting tide and sunrise/set data generated by NOAA for that time 200 years ago, he reconstructs their travels near the mouth of the Columbia and presents conclusive evidence of locations of camps- especially the one of Nov. 7, 1805 on the north (WA) shoreline from where according to the journals the Pacific was first spotted (I'm guessing 12 miles away- I can't recall???). What's fascinating is how Ziak presents evidence showing how the ocean breakers could be viewed directly from that camp on that Nov. 1805 day- even though today because of the south jetty on the Oregon side of the mouth extending so far out into the river/ocean that it effectively blocks that same view. Since the jetty was first constructed in 1890 (the largest public works project in the USA at the time) sand began to accumulate around it and within a decade had built up enough to block a river-level view of the ocean from further upstream. The author and us have L&C's very accurate coordinates of their "first sighting" spot to go on- in fact much of their data (including fine maps) was remarkable for its accuracy compared to modern methods. Of course beyond the detective work of what happened in that last month of their journey west, it is interesting and fun to learn from the rather sketchy details written in the journals (but plain and simple enough to deduce what was happening at that moment) of the party's daily life. It wasn't a picnic for sure. Leather clothing falling apart, game getting scare in the approach of winter (and at least on the north side of the Columbia possibly due to overhunting by natives & whites to supply the burgeoning fur and skin trade) , stormy rotten weather were just some of the things they had to endure. The idea of having to send out hunters every morning for the day's main food and depending on their skill at tracking and shooting to get that much needed food is beyond our modern sensibilities. It was either that or live on crummy dried fish, again. When an elk was killed it was a great feast, and many times the hunters would have to hike back many miles to camp for help in carrying the meat back. But to help stave off hunger for those in camp they had brought back the elk forelegs. Sort of an Elk leg appetizer- marrow and all. So this book is a good addition to the Lewis and Clark literature and studies, filling in gaps of the story. It is a handsome book with many fine maps and photos of the Columbia mouth area. Many additional note boxes on pages with further info and details. A very interesting appendix section also. The author ends the book with a brief "history"of the Chinook tribe (who figured prominently in the story) and how it and other area tribes' history has yet to be published- but when it is we will have the first accurate account of their story. He tells of the struggles of the tribe over the intervening years to survive, and how it is still fighting for official U.S. Government recognition. "There is a salmon named Chinook; there is a chinook wind, a river, and a town; a Chinook helicopter, motor-home, and casino. However, in the eyes of the United States government, the people who call themselves Chinook do not exist."