The Volcanoes of
Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark
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April 10 - 11, 1806 Columbia River Gorge - Bonneville Vicinity |
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The Volcanoes of Lewis and Clark Map of the Journey Volcanoes, Basalt Plateaus, Major Rivers, etc. The Volcanoes Mount Adams, Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Mount Rainier, and Mount St. Helens CALENDAR of the Journey October 1805 to June 1806 Along the Journey Pacific Northwest Maps - Columbia River, Volcanoes, Flood Basalts, Missoula Floods, Geology, etc. The Corps of Discovery The Journey of Lewis and Clark About the Reference Materials The Journals, Biddle/Allen, DeVoto, Gass, Moulton, Topo Maps, and others USGS Lewis and Clark Links Links to USGS Websites highlighting the Lewis and Clark Journey Resources Publications Referenced and Websites Visited |
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April 9 Columbia River Gorge, Cottonwood Beach Camp to Bonneville |
April 10-11
Columbia River Gorge, Bonneville Vicinity Bradford Island, Bonneville Dam, Bonneville Landslide |
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April 12 Columbia River Gorge, "Lower Falls of the Columbia", Cascade Locks |
On October 7, 1805, Lewis and Clark and the
"Corps of Discovery" began their journey
down the Clearwater River and into the volcanics
of the Pacific Northwest. The Corps travelled from the
Clearwater to the Snake and down the
"Great Columbia", finally reaching the
Pacific Ocean on November 15, 1805.
Along the journey they encountered the
lava flows of the Columbia Plateau,
river channels carved by the great "Missoula Floods",
and the awesome beauty of five Cascade Range volcanoes.
[Click map for brief summary about the area] |
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Heading for Home - April 1806
Columbia River Gorge - Bonneville Vicinity |
| Lewis and Clark's camp of April 9, 1806, was on the Oregon side of the Columbia River, at a location now near the Bonneville Dam, upstream of Tanner Creek and across from the lower tip of Bradford Island. |
| Thursday, April 10, 1806 |
| Early in the morning we dropped down the channel to the lower end of Brant island [Bradford Island], and then drew our boats up the rapid. |
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Bradford Island: Bradford Island was once an old Indian burial ground in the middle of the Columbia River. The island now is part of the Bonneville Dam structure. Lewis and Clark called the island "Brant Island", and was so named because of the large flocks of Lesser Canadian Geese observed in the vicinity. Returning eastbound in 1806, the corps stopped on the island to dine prior to heading to the southern mainland to camp before attempting the portage of the "Grand Rapids." The south end of Bonneville Dam is presently on the island, now named for the Bradford brothers, who operated steamboats on the river. -- Center for Columbia River History Website, 2004, and Washington State Historical Society Website, 2004, "Lasting Legacy". 
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| At the distance of a quarter of a mile we crossed over to a village of Clahclellahs, consisting of six houses, on the opposite side [Washington side, east of North Bonneville, location of the Bonneville Dam]. The river is here about four hundred yards wide, and the current so rapid, that although we employed five oars for each canoe, we were borne down a considerable distance. ...... |
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Bonneville Dam: Bonneville Lock and Dam and Lake Bonneville are in the Columbia River Gorge, one of the most scenic areas in the Pacific Northwest. The walls of the gorge rise 2,000 feet above Lake Bonneville in many places and can be seen from any of the 10 recreation areas around the reservoir. Bonneville Dam spans the Columbia River from Oregon to Washington, a distance of 1,100 feet. Bradford Island, an old Indian burial ground separating the river's two channels, is at the center of the mammoth barrier. Bonneville Dam was begun in 1933 and completed in 1938, and was the first of the major power dams on the Columbia. The dam is a 1,230-foot-long gravity-type, concrete spillway dam across the center channel of the Columbia River and measures 180 feet wide at its base. It has two 350-ton gantry cranes which operate from a service roadway 99 feet above the water, to regulate the 18 movable-crest steel gates. The project required 750,000 cubic of concrete. It cost $88.4 million to build the spillway dam on one side of Bradford Island, a powerhouse, and navigation locks on the other side of the island. The Bonneville Power Administration added a second powerhouse in the 1980s and dug a channel through Bradford Island. Bonneville Dam was named for Captain Benjamin de Bonneville. -- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Website, 2004, Oregon State Archives Website, 2002, and Center for Columbia River History Website, 2004
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| The south side of the river is impassable, and the rapidity of the current as well as the large rocks along the shore, render the navigation of even the north side extremely difficult. During the greater part of the day it was necessary to draw them along the shore, and as we have only a single tow-rope that is strong enough, we are obliged to bring them one after the other. In this tedious and laborious manner, we at length reached the portage on the north side [area of the Bonneville Landslide], and carried our baggage to the top of a hill, about two hundred paces distant, where we encamped for the night [Washington side, above today's Bonneville Dam]. |
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Bonneville Landslide: The Bonneville Landslide: The Bonneville Landslide (also known as the Table Mountain Landslide or the Bridge of the Gods Landslide) slid down from the north wall of the Columbia River Gorge sometime between 1400 and 1465 A.D., blocking the Columbia River to a depth of 150-200 feet. Breaching of almost the entire thickness of the landslide dam caused a flood of about 7.7 million cubic feet per second, about six times larger then the largest meteorological flood of the last 150 years. Deposits from the flood form a distinctive marker bed all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The last remnant of the dam was bouldery Cascade Rapids, the namesake of the Cascade Range, now drowned in the pool behind Bonneville Dam. The Bonneville Landslide is part of the Cascade Landslide Complex, an impressive example of mass wasting created by multiple events. The source area includes portions of Table Mountain and the Red Bluffs in Washington. The Cascade Landslide Complex covers 12 to 14 square miles, with individual slide deposits of about 2 to 5 square miles.The Bonneville landslide (a lobe of the complex) has an area of about 5.5 square miles. Debris from the source area reached as far as 3 miles to the southeast and buried the pre-slide Columbia River channel, which was about 1.5 miles north of its present location. The landslide substantially diverted the river channel toward the Oregon shoreline. The second powerhouse of Bonneville Dam abuts against the landslide. If you look north of the dam, you can see the cliffs that were exposed after the mountain gave way. -- O'Connor and Costa, 2004, and Norman and Roloff, 2004
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| The canoes were drawn on shore and secured, but one of them having got loose, drifted down to the last village, the inhabitants of which brought her back to us; an instance of honesty which we rewarded with a present of two knives. It rained all night. |
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The Camp - April 10 and April 11, 1806:
Lewis and Clark camped on the Washington side of the Columbia, at a location now above the Bonneville Dam. |
| Friday, April 11, 1806 |
| The tents, and skins which covered the baggage, were wet. We therefore determined to take the canoes first over the portage [across Bonneville Landslide, passed the rapids and falls of the Cascade Locks area], in hopes that by the afternoon the rain would cease, and we might carry our baggage across without injury. This was immediately begun by almost the whole party, who in the course of the day dragged four of the canoes to the head of the rapids, with great difficulty and labour. ...... |
| "... this portage is two thousand eight hundred yards along a narrow rough and slipery road. ..." [Lewis, April 11, 1806] |
| "... rained the greater part of last night and continues this morning. all of the party except a fiew to guard the baggage turned out with Capt. Clark to takeing up our canoes with the tow Rope up the big Shoote took one large one and one Small one at once the large one filled at the highest pitch where it is allmost perpinticular but with Some difficulty we got the 2 to the head of the portage about noon. then went back took dinner and took another large canoe and a Small one the other smallest one was taken & carried by land. this large canoe filled twice with water at the worst pitch but with some difficulty & hard fatigue got them Safe up towards evening by the assistance of a number of Indians at the worst pitch &C. and halled the large canoe up by force allthough She was full of water. the most of the mens feet sore towing over the Sharp rocks. our officers made a chief of the nation gave meddle &C. Drewyer and the 2 Fields Sent on a head with their little canoe to a creek on the N. Side to hunt untill our arival. ..." [Ordway, April 11, 1806] |
| "... by the evening Capt. C. took 4 of our canoes above the rapids tho' with much difficulty and labour. the canoes were much damaged by begin driven against the rocks in dispite of every precaution which could be taken to prevent it. the men complained of being so much fatiegued in the evening that we posposned taking up our 5th canoe untill tomorrow. these rapids are much worse than they were fall when we passed them, at that time there were only three difficult points within seven miles, at present the whole distance is extreemly difficult of ascent, and it would be impracticable to decend except by leting down the empty vessels by a cord and then even the wrisk would be greater than in taking them up by the same means. the water appears to be (considerably) upwards of 20 feet higher than when we decended the river ..." [Lewis, April 11, 1806] |
| Many Indians from the villages above, passed us in the course of the day, on their return from trading with the natives of the valley, and among others, we recognised an Eloot, who with ten or twelve of his nation were on their way home to the long narrows of the Columbia. These people do not, as we are compelled to do, drag their canoes, up the rapids, but leave them at the head, as they descend, and carrying their good across the portage, hire or borrow others from the people below. When the trade is over they return to the foot of the rapids, where they leave these boats and resume their own at the head of the portage. The labour of carrying the goods across is equally shared by the men and women, and we were struck by the contract between the decent conduct of all the natives from above and the profligacy and ill manners of the Wahclellahs. About three quarters of a mile below our camp is a burial ground, which seems common to the Wahclellahs, Clahclellahs, and Yehhuhs. It consists of eight sepulchres on the north bank of the river. |
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The Camp - April 10 and April 11, 1806:
Lewis and Clark camped on the Washington side of the Columbia, at a location now above the Bonneville Dam. |
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June/July 2004, Lyn Topinka
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