Lewis and Clark

Lewis and Clark’s Dugout Canoes

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I live in one of the areas of Montana that the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, traversed during the early 1800s (1803-1806). Beaverhead Rock, the formation that Sacagawea recognized as being close to the summer grounds of her nation, is one of the local landmarks.

Eighty percent of the Lewis and Clark expedition was accomplished by water. The explorers used various types of boats, barges, canoes and pirogues to accomplish the round trip journey, and I think the most fascinating of these are the dugout canoes that they carved during their travels.

The canoes were carved out of a single tree, using green cottonwood or Ponderosa pine because those woods are easy to shape when wet. The outside of the tree was kept wet, while small coal fires were set on the log to burn the wood away. As the wood burned, metal implements, such as axes and adzes were used to carve away the burned portions of the log, until it was hollowed out.

The completed dugout canoes averaged 30 feet long and 3 feet wide and weighed about a ton. They could carry a minimum of 800 pounds of cargo along with 7 men. The explorers also built larger canoes, 50-55 feet long, for travel on the Columbia river. These canoes could carry 2-3 tons of cargo along with 4-6 men. The larger canoes took 12 days to complete; some of the smaller canoes were built in 5 days.

Painting created by Split Rock Studios, Sioux City, Iowa. Original in the collection of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.
A partially finished dugout canoe displayed in a local part, created to demonstrate the construction technique.

The explorers carved 6 canoes from cottonwood trees at Fort Mandan in what is now North Dakota before heading west. One of the canoes was abandoned near the Big Hole River in Montana and the rest put into storage when the expedition shifted from waterways to horseback in order to travel over the Rocky Mountains into Idaho.

Once they crossed the Rockies, the men made five new dugout canoes from Ponderosa pine.  All of these canoes were wrecked or sold  before they made it past Columbia Falls. On the return journey, the explorers retrieved the canoes they had stored in Montana and used them to travel to the Great Falls of the Missouri. During the journey they carved a total of 15 canoes. William Clark carved two canoes near Billings Montana that were so unstable that they had to be lashed together. I bet that after days of burning and scraping, they were pretty determined to use them in anyway possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning to Love the Camas Root

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I grew up in the Palouse area of Idaho, close to the Camas Prairie, and when I was in the third grade, while we were studying the Nez Perce Indians, I ate a cookie made with camas root flour. I can taste it to this day–and not in a good way.  It might have been the cook, it might have been the camas root flour. I don’t know, but that cookie did not agree with me. Interestingly, Lewis and Clark had a similar experience.

Before I tell you about Lewis and Clark, let me give you some background on the camas root. The camas is a blue flowering plant. It’s really quite beautiful and although there are several Camas Prairies, my Camas Prairie is an area in north central Idaho where the Nez Perce gathered camas roots for thousands of years.

The camas root is really a bulb, and it’s higher in protein that some fish. The native peoples would dig the root with sticks or parts of antlers in the early summer months. The time varied depending on the altitude. After the harvest, the camas roots were cooked in earthen ovens. The roots that were not eaten were dried for later consumption. Dried camas root lasted for years. There are stories of travelers eating camas roots that were more than thirty years old.

It was very important to only harvest the blue camas bulbs, because the white camas bulbs, which are also nutritious, closely resembled another species of camas known as White Death. The White Death could be lethal if enough was consumed, so white camas plants were generally avoided.

 So what happened to Lewis and Clark?

When the explorers reached the Weippe Prairie in Idaho in September of 1805, they were essentially starving. The Nez Perce fed the men camas roots, which were described as “sweet and good to the taste”. They were also very high in fiber and very hard on the starving men’s digestive systems.  The men fell ill with vomiting, diarrhea and gas. Captain Clark wrote, “Capt Lewis Scercely able to ride on a jentle horse which was furnishd by the Chief. Several men So unwell that they were Compelled to lie on the Side of the road for Some time others obliged to be put on horses.” The sickness lasted over five days, during which time the less weak men took care of the sicker men while making five canoes to travel the Clearwater River. Those guys were tough.

Later it was discovered that fermented camas made a decent beer and the men felt friendlier toward the root. Eventually, their bodies adapted. The men came to like the camas root and took a large supply with them when then traveled down the Clearwater in October 1805.

In researching the camas, I’ve learned that the roasted bulbs taste similar to pumpkin and sweet potato, both of which I hated as a kid, and that, I believe, was the source of my issues with the root. I would try a camas flour cookie again, given the chance. And hopefully, like Lewis and Clark, I would come to appreciate this historically valuable food source.

Petticoats & Pistols