Lewis and Clark and The Corps of Discovery, part 3: From The Rocky Mountains to Fort Clatsop
The last time we followed the Corps of Discovery, they were trading with the Shoshone for horses...
in order to cross the Rocky Mountains...
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| portion of a map from Interactive 3-D Maps: American History |
because the pirogues could not cross them. They buried the pirogues along with some other supplies in a cashe for their return trip.
After they crossed the Rockies, they met the Nez Perce on the other side. The men were starving due the lack of game available in the mountains and the fact that crossing the mountains took longer than they had expected.
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| from History Pockets: Native Americans |
The Nez Perce fed them camas roots...
and dried salmon.
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| from History Pockets: Native Americans |
We learned about how much the Nez Perce valued horses. They decorated the horses foreheads with decorations that looked like this.
The Nez Perce also showed them how to make canoes by burning the insides of large logs. This made the logs so that the insides could then be easily dug out. We made little canoes by digging out the seed part of cucumbers. (We then filled them with spiced Feta cheese and ate them.)
The Corps of Discovery, after a difficult trip down the Columbia River in the canoes, finally made it to the Pacific Ocean. The Corps of Discovery was out of all their supplies, so they got salt by evaporating the water from the Pacific Ocean. They hunted elk for meat.
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| map from Interactive 3-D Maps: American History |
They decided to stay near the Clatsop Indians and built a fort for them to stay in for the winter.
