Yes, William Clark’s journal mentions a puncheon (rough plank) floor. They didn’t write about this in their journals, but they probably used rawhide to cover the windows.ġ9. See the previous answer-it is for defense.ġ8. The stockade of the original fort might have been higher. The inward sloping roofs put the highest wall on the outside to hinder anyone sneaking over undetected. The fort reinforced the explorers’ sense of military order and helped with morale. The walls of the fort helped them protect their tools and supplies from theft. The party was in an unknown wilderness and did not know who or what they would run into. If the natives were friendly, why did the explorers need to build a fort? They were also here in the winter so anything made of fat wouldn’t have melted.ġ4. Elk tallow is harder than beef tallow, so they wouldn’t have needed anything to make them hard. When the explorers were camped here, they made candles from elk tallow. The paraffin is used to make the beef tallow harder. Ours are made from beef tallow and paraffin (paraffin is a derivative of the petroleum industry). There was always a soldier on guard duty and the sentry box provided shelter from the rain. What’s the small structure outside the orderly room? Latrines (they called them sinks), pits or trenches, were dug outside the fort (probably somewhere out the watergate).ġ2. None of it all of the items are newer items or replicas. How much of the stuff in the fort is original? How much of the stuff in the fort is real?Įverything, except for the meat, is real, but not from the expedition or that time.ġ0. it has a cement foundation, the bark has been peeled off of the logs, there are subdued electric lights in the fort, etc.ĩ. Some details are “incorrect” to help the fort endure and for visitor safety e.g. Many of the details of the replica are based on other military camps of the time, or are best educated guesses. It is the same dimension and layout as Clark’s floor plan sketched in (& on) one of his journals. Then in the early 1850s the site was homesteaded and the last remnants of the fort were burned. The average annual rainfall in the area is about 70” so untreated, unmaintained wood rots quickly. The current exhibit was erected during the spring & summer of 2006 The first exhibit was built in 1955-58 and was destroyed by fire on October 3, 2005. The current fort exhibit is the second replica built in this location. The replica is built on, or near, the original site by area citizens and civic groups celebrating the sesquicentennial (150 th anniversary) of the expedition in 1955. When was the exhibit built? And Who built it? The Fort Exhibit is a replica of the original structure.Ħ. They named it for the local American Indians, the Clatsops. They arrived here Decemand stayed until Mawhen they started their trip back to the U.S.A. They were here for 106 days or about 3 ½ months. The pickets and gates completed the fort on New Years Day.ģ. They started felling trees on December 9 and had it finished enough to move into on Christmas Day 1805. How long did it take the explorers to build their Fort Clatsop? The location of the Fort Exhibit is the site on the Netul River where Lewis found everything they needed for a good campsite: trees for building and for firewood, high ground up above the high tides, flat ground, elk for hunting, a fresh water spring, easy river access, away from the ocean and its winter storms, yet near to the Clatsop villages at the beach, near to the ocean for making salt (which they ran out of on January 13th) and near to the mouth of the Columbia in case a trade ship came by they could have bought (with a letter of credit) more trade goods (they were almost out).Ģ. Lewis led a scouting party west of Tongue Point to explore Youngs Bay and continued about 2 miles up the Skipanon River before backtracking to Youngs Bay and then up the Netul River (Lewis and Clark River). After camping nearly two weeks on the north (Washington) shore of the Columbia River, the party voted to look for a campsite on the south side of the river as some visiting Clatsop people had advised. They had to camp somewhere west of the Rocky Mountains until the snow melted enough for their return trip, and they decided that this was the best spot. Why did the expedition camp here? Why did they choose this spot?
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