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Ah! They made it over the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Nez Perce welcomed them, feeding the desperately hungry men with dried salmon and plenty of roots. They feasted. Twisted Hair, a Nez Perce chief, told the Corps of Discovery that the Pacific Ocean was just weeks away. Oh rejoice!
The men's enthusiasm quickly died away. Lewis and many of the men became violently ill — perhaps from bacteria in the salmon or the abrupt change in diet. Clark doctored them as he prepared canoes for the next leg of the journey.
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In Their Own Words... |
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"The pleasure I now felt in having tryumphed over the rocky Mountains and descending once more to level and fertile country where there was every rational hope of finding a comfortable subsistence for myself and party can be more readily conceived than expressed nor was the flattering prospect of the final success of the expedition less pleasing."
~ Lewis | | More than a week later they set off, with many of the men still weak and sick. With precious time lost, the captains decided to run the rapids of the Clearwater instead of portaging as they sped to the Snake River. As they continued, hundreds of Native Americans lined the banks of the Columbia in sure anticipation that the white men would drown themselves.
To their surprise, the Corps of Discovery triumphed again and again. They traveled quickly — about 30 miles a day. There was history to be made. The men met Chinook Native Americans and they were amazed by the number of salmon in the waters. It was the fall spawning season, and fish could be caught by the boatload.
The land gradually changed from barren, open countryside to lands filled with trees — fir, hemlock, spruce, alder and ash.
They pressed on, eager to reach the ocean, their ultimate destination. On Nov. 6, one of their men shouted: “Ocian in view!” The men paddled hard to reach it. That night, Clark proudly writes in his journal: “Ocian 4142 miles from the Mouth of the Missouri R.” They were, however, at the Columbia estuary — not yet the ocean.
In the coming days, Lewis, Clark and their men marked their westward journey’s end by carving their names in trees near the ocean along with the words “By Land from the U. States in 1804 & 1805,” thus noting one of history’s great adventures.
Next: Back Home and Into History | 
