Astoria, Oregon
Historical events are separated from us by Time and Space. Usually. Today for our guests and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the dimension of space was removed.
We shared the Captains’ time in the Columbia River Basin. Early risers awakened to find that National Geographic Sea Bird had passed the Astoria-Megler Bridge and were facing “the bar” at the meeting of the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River. We didn’t have the strong stormy weather that Lewis and Clark experienced, but we had a great cloud-filled sky to start the day.
Our morning adventure took us to Fort Clatsop with its replica of the fort built by the Captains in December 1805. The fort was designed to have a room for Toussaint Charboneau, his wife Sacagawea, and their infant son Pomp, who would celebrate his first birthday at the fort. National Park Service Rangers believe the replica stands within just yards of the original fort, which rapidly rotted away after Lewis and Clark left it on March 23, 1806. We were truly standing in the footsteps of the Great Explorers.
Several guests opted for the afternoon excursion to Cape Disappointment – so named by British captain John Mears in 1788. The drive took us past the site of Station Camp, one of the few campsites named in the journals kept by the Captains. Today’s location is exactly identified via the instrument readings that Clark made on the fine maps he drew of the area.
At the Interpretive Center, we stood at display cases holding Patrick Gass’s hatchet, flask and shaving box. Family tradition holds that these items were used by Gass on the Expedition. Thus a thin piece of glass was all that separated us from items used on the Expedition – 207 years ago.
So Time still separates us from Lewis and Clark, but today, we reduced the separating Space and became more truly linked to the Expedition.
