This day began with, as Clark’s journal entry describes it, “such Violence that we wer almost overwhelmed with water blown from the river”. He went on to describe a wind of “Such Violence” blowing from the S.S.E. that it blew without stopping for most of the day and was accompanied by rain. The dreadful weather inspired Clark to moan, “O! how horriable is the day waves brakeing with great violence against the Shore throwing the Water into our Campt &c. all wet and confind to our Shelters.”

Gass recorded simply that it “was a rainy and stormy morning; and we were not able to set out…the river was rougher than it has been since we came here.” Swelling tides caused the day’s disaster in which a canoe “got among some logs, and was split.”

Once again, admiration for the skills of the native Indians as canoe navigators must have been high, as Clark noted on November 11. For, despite the fact that the wind “rendered it impossible for us to Cross the river from our Camp,” the seven Clatsop natives who had started out that day with them, “left us and Crossed the river through emence high waves.” (Clark)

The inclement weather reported by the Expedition did not deter the native people who had traveled this area for generations nor did it prevent other sea explorers from being lured into the area. Five years after that miserable time, the first commercial settlement in the region was made across the river in Astoria (1811), named for the man behind its enterprise, John Jacob Astor of the Pacific Fur Company. Less than a half-century after the Corps’ members huddled, wet and miserable, the flow of pioneers had resulted in numerous Donation Land Claims on both sides of the river. By the 1850s, two towns had been established on the Long Peach Peninsula: Pacific City (known today as Ilwaco) which boasted a fine harbor, and Oysterville at the north end of Willapa Bay on the same peninsula. The plentiful oysters to be found in Willapa Bay and the abundant salmon in the Columbia River were attracting immigrant fishermen to the area.

By 1891, the United States Congress found it prudent to pass a Quarantine Act in the battle to control communicable diseases arriving on many ships with the passengers. As a result of the new requirement for health inspections for all immigrants, the Marine Hospital Service opened a quarantine station at Knappton Cove in 1899, to the east of the area where the men and Sakagawea were riding out the bad weather in 1805. Today, the Columbia River Quarantine Station is the Knappton Cove Heritage Center. The Center occupies the hospital building which once was part of the Quarantine Station and its museum is open by appointment, with special events hosted throughout the year. Information on the Center is available through: thecove@theoregonshore.com or 1-503-728-5206.

The huge swells in the river and the violent winds give a glimpse into the rough weather with which seamen have always contended in both the Columbia River as it meets the sea and the Pacific Ocean itself. (See introduction to this section of our site for more information about these conditions.)