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On November 8, 1805, the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean and began scouting for a place to spend the winter. Should they stay near the coast? Or should they move back up the Columbia River? Which side of the river should they camp on?
Sacagawea, ever the provider, wanted to settle where there was plenty of wapatoo, an edible root. At one point, the captains took a vote. Sacagawea got a vote, too, as did York, Clark’s slave. It was the first time in American history that an enslaved person and a woman had voted. It would be a long time before that happened again. Eventually, the Corps built Fort Clatsop on a small tributary of the Columbia River. The group stayed there until March 23, 1806.
▲ Different groups of Native Americans came to Fort Clatsop to trade. A Chinook woman brought an elegant robe made of sea otter pelts. Lewis and Clark wanted the robe. However, the woman would only take blue beads in exchange, and there were none left. To help the captains buy the robe, Sacagawea gave them her belt of blue beads. In return, they gave her a blue cloth coat.
◀ Life at Fort Clatsop became boring. But the expedition did get a break in the routine. A visiting group of Native Americans told them that a whale had washed ashore about 35 miles away. Clark led a group to bring back what could be useful from it. Sacagawea went, too. But only after arguing that she had traveled far to reach the ocean. She felt it would be “very hard”—especially now that a “monstrous fish” was visible—if she were not allowed to see the ocean.
▲ For part of the journey back, the group split in two. Lewis led one party. Clark led the other, which included Sacagawea and her family. When Clark’s party got to the Yellowstone River, Sacagawea recommended a way through the mountains (now called Bozeman Pass). Clark later wrote, “The Indian woman... has been of great service to me as a pilot through this country.”
◀ On July 25, 1806, Clark was east of present-day Billings, Montana. He saw a sandstone formation on which Native Americans had scratched the figures of animals and other objects. Clark named the rock Pompey’s Tower, in honor of Sacagawea’s son. Clark carved his own name and the date on a path leading to the top. The words can still be seen.
The two groups reunited on August 12. A few days later, they were back at the Mandan villages. Here, Sacagawea, Charbonneau, and Pomp left the expedition. Clark offered to take Pomp—“a butifull promising child who is 19 months old”—to St. Louis. His parents said the boy was too young to leave his mother. However, they did agree to bring him to Clark in a year so that he could raise the child “in such a manner as I thought proper.” ▶
