Lewis & Clark Heritage
in Umatilla and Morrow Counties

Down the Columbia
October 18 - 20, 1805

(The following is except from "Along the Trail with Lewis and Clark" by Barbara Fifer & Vicky Soderberg)

After passing and naming Hat Rock, they came to a two mile long rapid (named "Mussel Shell" by the local Indians), at the end of which McNary Dam is today.  Clark went ashore on the south side to study the rapid, walking with Nez Perce chiefs Twisted Hair and Tetoharsky, and Sacagawea and her husband Touissaint Charbonneau.  Clark waited below the rapid for two hours while the main party came through it, dragging canoes over the rocks.

Clark saw Indians across the river discover Lewis and the Corps, then return "to their lodges as fast as they could run...".  He took a canoe that already had passed the rapids, with interpreter George Drouillard and Privates Joseph and Reubin Field, and headed downriver.

They reached a village of Umatilla people near today's Plymouth, Washington.  The lodges were of woven mats, and their mat doors were closed.  Clark entered one and found 32 men, women and children hiding in terror.  He made signs of peace, and offered gifts of whatever he found in his pockets.  Clark sent the three others to do the same.  

Clark waited boldly on the rock out in the open, inviting Umatilla men to smoke with him.  But the Umatillas waited until Lewis and the others cam up - with Sacagawea, whose very presence indicated to people of this area that the Corps came in peace.  The Umatillas relaxed, and all ate and traded together before the Corps moved on.

That night, camping possibly on Blalock Island - now partially under the waters of Lake Umatilla - the Corps hosted another village, which was delighted when Cruzette and Private George Gibson played the violin.

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