Collection of Excerpts from Landmarks of the Old Oregon Country

>> Landmarks of the old Oregon country. Visiting historic places in the Northwest. >> Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Three modern states in the Pacific Northwest. But not so long ago they shared the same name, for they were all part of the old Oregon country. >> Hi, welcome to Landmarks of the Old Oregon Country. I'm Jane Ferguson. >> And I'm Mark Sparks. We'd like to invite you to come along with us as we travel around the Pacific Northwest to places where our past is still very much alive. >> We'll be taking a look at some of the key people, places, and events from the history of the old Oregon country, from the arrival of the first people... >> Right up to 1859, the year Oregon became a state. And along the way we'll also be meeting some very special people, who are still working to learn more about our history. From the beginning, men and women followed dreams of new homes and better lives to the northwest. And the history of the old Oregon country became a series of adventures that took place all around us. Adventures of discovery, sacrifice and settlement that left their marks on our maps,

on our place in history and on the ways we live today. >> So join us as we go to some of the actual locations where the history of the Northwest happened. Places that have become landmarks of the old Oregon country. [native singing] >> Long, long ago they came to this land. They were the first to call it home. They were Oregon's first people. >> It's morning at Fort Rock. >> Here in the central Oregon desert, the sun brings a new day. >> But for desert animals like the owl and the coyote, who live and hunt at night, dawn means it's time to find a safe place to sleep. >> Hi, I'm Mark Sparks. >> And I'm Jane Ferguson. Here on the rim of Fort Rock you can see for miles in every

direction. Much of what we can see doesn't look very different from any other desert: rocks, sagebrush, distant hills. >> But we need to take a closer look, because this part of the Oregon desert holds many secrets and clues to the mysteries about Oregon's first people. Who were they? Where did they come from? Why did they choose to live here? >> Scientists are fairly certain the first people to live here probably came from Asia. Thousands of years ago a land bridge existed where the Bering Strait now lies. It is believed that people coming from what is now Siberia could have crossed this windswept frozen stretch of land and reached Alaska. Still others might have traveled in boats over stormy Arctic waters. Once they arrived in Alaska, they gradually traveled south. Eventually, they reached what we would later call the Oregon territory. While some continued still farther south, others chose to make this area their new home.

From what we've been able to discover, some of the first people to live in Oregon made their homes here in Fort Rock Valley. Why do we think that? Because of a cave that kept a secret for more than ten thousand years. >> Not far from Fort Rock State Park is Fort Rock cave. In 1938, Dr. Luther Cressman and a team of archaeologists, scientists who study the people of the past through their artifacts, began to carefully explore this cave. As the scientists began to dig down into the floor of the cave, they found evidence that people had been here long ago. They found tools made of stone, wood and bone. And still further down, they found fragments of nearly 200 sandals like this one made of sagebrush bark. One sandal in particular was very well preserved. Dr. Cressman, and other scientists, determined that the sandals had probably been left in the cave over 10,000 years ago. This discovery is one of the earliest known pieces of evidence of people living in Oregon. The sandals became important pieces in a

puzzle that is still a long way from being solved. >> Here's a riddle. When is a fort not a fort? When it's a volcano. Fort Rock may look like a fort, that's how it got its name. But it's really the cone and crater of an ancient volcano. It's cliff sides are nearly 200 feet high in some places. One side of Fort Rock is open, and the reason it's like this calls for another riddle: when is a desert not a desert? When it's a lake. Fort Rock Valley was once a giant lake. Part of the Great Silver Lake formed in the days following the last ice age. Where we now see sagebrush, there were once great marshes. And it was the force of waves of water against Fort Rock that eventually washed out one side. >> Now it makes sense why those first people would have made their homes here. If this was all lake and marsh land, there would have been plenty to eat and drink.

>> That's right. The first Oregonians here lived in a totally different world, a world where there was an abundance of plants and animals to provide food. We've even found sinkers they once used for fishing nets. Imagine them traveling out here to Fort Rock in canoes. Until the lakes began to dry up, life for those ancient tribesmen must have been pretty good. Good enough for them to have time to improve their sandal and toolmaking skills. >> Anan Raymond is an archaeologist. He's also a flint napper. A flint napper is someone who makes stone tools using the same methods that these Indians used. To better understand what life was like for the Fort Rock hunters, he's learned to make tools like the ones found in Fort Rock cave. >> Hi Anan. >> Hi Jane. >> What are you making? >> Well I'm using this hammer stone to shape this chunk of obsidian into a spear point. Then I'll use this club, or billet, of elk antler, to also shape it into a

point. When this gets smaller I'll use this tip of a deer antler to take--to shape it into a small point. >> Over here, this is the Indian's tool kit. With these chunks of obsidian and deer antler and hammer stones, the Indians had everything they need to make tools for cutting, chopping and scraping. >> Are the tools left behind by the first Fort Rock people different from those left by the Indians who were living here when explorers first arrived 200 years ago? >> Absolutely. Though they lived in the same place, their lives were completely different. The first people made spearheads like these to hunt large game that lived around here. But 200 years ago, when this area had become a desert, they used small arrowheads to hunt things like rabbits and other small desert animals. >> What were the first Fort Rock people like? We can only guess. When they

disappeared they left nothing behind but some of their tools and a few sandals. And where did they go? Some believe they stayed in this area and just moved to places where they could find more food and water. Others have guessed that they packed up and moved much farther south, but the answer to that question is still a mystery. Perhaps this ancient desert knows the answer, but it also knows how to keep a secret. >> That's beautiful Anan. >> Thanks Jane. It's also very sharp. You know in so many cases, when we think of stone tools, we think of crude rock clubs. Whereas many of the stone tools the Indians used were every bit as sharp and dangerous as some of the best metal knives that we use today. >> I think it's fascinating that the first Oregon people were able to take a common rock and make tools that were so beautiful, and yet worked so well. And that you were able to

show us how this was done. Thanks a lot, Anan. >> You're welcome. >> The Indians who lived here kept no written records of their lives. Tribal legends and stories were passed down from parents to children and told around fires on long winter nights. [singing and drums] >> So much of what we know about the Indians living here 200 years ago is based on what the first explorers found, and on what the Indians could tell them. One thing we know for certain: the Indians living here by then were only distantly related to the first Fort Rock hunters. By the late 1700s, the lakes it turned to desert and this was part of Oregon's great basin. There were many separate bands of Indians living here, and most of them were members of the larger tribe known as the Northern Paiute.

The Paiutes were able to survive by understanding the life of the desert. They depended on seeds, roots and berries for most of their food. Antelope and small game were also hunted, but a Paiute family could only survive if everyone understood where and when food could be found. Because food was scarce, the tribes of the Great Basin moved often, mostly traveling on foot, and they rarely build permanent homes. To the north, were the plateau tribes. Of these perhaps the best known are the Nez Perce. After the introduction of horses to this area in the early 1700s, the plateau Indians, including the Nez Perce, ranged far and wide in search of food and trade. Hunting parties would travel to the Great Plains in search of buffalo, or head west to trade for salmon. South and west of the great basin were the Klamath Lakes. Tribes in this area, like the Klamath and Modoc, lived near

marshes and lakes, traveled mostly by canoes and built earth covered lodges for their winter homes. The plants and birds that lived on or near the water were their main sources of food. Tribes living along the rivers of the inland valleys built plank and brush houses and gathered nuts and roots. They hunted for game and did some fishing. But here, as in the Great Basin, the year long search for plants that could be eaten was most important. More Indians lived along the banks of the Columbia River and the lower Willamette River than any place else in Oregon. Many different tribes spoke a common language. They built strong independent villages near the water. Fishing for salmon was the center of their lives. And traveling by canoes, up and down the Columbia, they traded with many other tribes. Fishing was also the major source of food for the tribes along the coast. Their villages of plank houses could be found along the banks of nearly every coastal stream. >> By the early 1800s, Indians in Oregon numbered in the tens of thousands. They were

divided into nearly a hundred different bands and tribes. >> Every tribe was as different as the area it called home. Some tribes were no larger than families and roamed the land just trying to find enough food to get by. Others joined together in large villages and traded with their neighbors. >> Tribes were special families and whether they lived by a river, an ocean, a lake or a desert, Indians look to their families, their tribes, for the lessons they needed to learn to survive. [native singing] >> These Indians looked at the world in a different way. Most believed that all things-- the sun, the rocks, the trees, the mountains, the animals, everything-- had a special spirit. Everything was alive and worthy of respect. There was a harmony in this living world, and it was a goal of the Indian to be a part of that harmony. >> One Indian story, told to children around a winter fire, ended with this lesson:

You must never cook any more than you can eat. If you cook three salmon when you are able to eat only half of one, then the salmon will be ashamed and will refuse to enter your river. >> Another important part of life for the Indians of Oregon was a belief in guardian spirits, or spirit powers. Boys and girls of nearly every tribe, when they were old enough, would be sent out on a private quest in search of their own guardian spirit. >> Imagine you were a member of the Paiute tribe, and it is your time to seek a guardian spirit. Your family has been preparing you for many years. You must go out into the desert alone to find a place to wait. Fort Rock was almost certainly a place of special power. When you find your chosen spot, you wait. It may take from three to five days. During that time you must not eat, and you drink only a little water. You listen to the animals, to the wind. You feel weak.

But if you are lucky, a guardian will reveal itself to you, perhaps in a dream. It might be an eagle, or a rattlesnake, or a star. [music] >> When you return to your family, you bring signs of your spirit guardian. And when it is time, you tell of your quest in a song or a dance that will always be part of your personal secret power. >> Another day in the Oregon desert is nearly over. >> It can be so quiet out here when the wind dies down. For hundreds, maybe thousands, of years Indians sat huddled around campfires telling stories to their children, passing on lessons told to them by their parents. >> It truly was a different world. And yet out here at Fort Rock, with a fire and night coming on, it doesn't seem all that hard to understand. They respected the land. They knew its seasons and its dangers. And they were grateful for the life it gave to them.

>> Maybe it was their guardian spirits at work. But all that would have to change with the coming of the explorers and then the settlers. >> That's true. I think a member of the Kalapuya tribe might have been speaking for all the Indian tribes when he said "There are no more spirit powers. Long ago there were many when only Indians still lived here. But now there is nothing any longer in the water like long ago. It is the very same way in the mountains. Everything the Indians made to be their spirit powers, they are gone now. They all went back to the ocean." [music plays] By

>> Landmarks of the old Oregon country: visiting historic places in the pacific northwest. [music] >> Hi again I'm Mark Sparks. >> And I'm Jane Ferguson. >> Smell the salt air.

Feel the breeze off the water below. >> There's always something magical about the Oregon coast, especially in the spring. >> And the view from here, on the deck of the Cape Perpetua visitors center is hard to beat. It's the perfect spot for our look at the history of the Oregon coast, and its early exploration by sea. >> But Indians had been living along the Oregon coast long before the first ships appeared. And I'd like to know more about what life was like for them before the first sails appeared on the horizon. >> Some of the Indian tribes who lived along the Pacific coast called the Ocean "the river with one bank." For all of them, the Pacific Ocean was filled with a mighty spirit. The coastal Indians learned to live in harmony with this great ocean, and the land, the climate and the living things around them made it a good place to live. Cape Perpetua is located in one of the most rugged areas of the Oregon coast. It was once home to the Alsea Indian tribe. Their villages were hidden away in the valleys along the local streams

and rivers of the central Oregon coast. They were just one of the many tribes who made the Oregon coast their home. >> The village was the center of life for Indians here on the coast. It wasn't easy to travel over the mountains or up and down the coast, so each tribe was very much on its own. >> The Alsea people had their own language and tradition which they passed on to their children. The most important lessons to learn were how to catch fish and gather food. The Alseas, like most other coastal tribes, were lucky in that they could almost always find enough to eat. >> The forests were full of roots, berries and game. And the ocean and streams were filled with many kinds of fish and shellfish. >> I think I'll go see what I can find for dinner. >> Out there? Good luck. We can learn about the Indians here at Cape Perpetua by studying what they left behind. James Kimokayu is a naturalist and the cape Perpetua center director. Hi James. >> Hi Jane. >> What are you looking

at? >> This is part of a shell mound or a shell midden, left here by the Alsea Indians. During the spring and summer they used to camp out here. When the tide was out they collected mussels and crabs and other shellfish off the rocks, carried them up here, built a fire and had a feast. This was where they threw the shells. We're learning more all the time and doing everything we can to make sure we don't destroy other evidence that will help us to better understand how the Alsea lived before the coming of the explorers. >> Thanks a lot James. >> A digging stick, very much like this one, was used by the Alsea people, both for digging up roots, and for prying mussels like these from the rocks. Large carrying baskets made from soft cedar bark were filled with mussels, crabs, anemones and other shellfish. These were taken back up the hill to the tribes temporary camps used in the spring and summer. >> So what's for dinner. >> You know I couldn't find a menu.

>> The Alseas had smoked salmon, fresh shellfish and plenty of roots and berries in the hills. They probably ate better than we do today. >> And surrounded by all this beauty. What a life. >> And it was probably on a day much like this one hundreds of years ago that an Alsea woman, her carrying basket filled with mussels, looked up from her food gathering, and scanning the horizon, she saw something she had never seen before. >> It was unlike any canoe she'd ever seen. Perhaps it was a monster. That's what one Indian legend called the first ship seen off this coast. An old woman first thought it was a whale. But it had two spruce trees sticking out of its back. It couldn't be a whale. It had to be a monster. >> We have no records of when the Alsea first saw a foreign sailing ship off their coast. But

we know that on their trading journeys up the coast the Alsea probably heard about the visitors and the big boats even before one was actually seen. >> In the beginning, the Alsea people treated the visitors as they would guests from any other visiting tribe. And they were eager to trade with them as the other coastal tribes were. The visitors from the big ships had come. There would be no turning back. But what was it like for the men on board those ships? What were they looking for? And why did they keep coming?[music] >> The coast of the Pacific Northwest was a mystery which everyone wanted to solve. Some came in search of treasure. But in one way or another they were all searching for something many of them had heard of, but none had seen: The Northwest Passage. It was hoped there was a direct passage by water from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific,

If they could find it, trade with China and the East would be much easier. And as late as 1770, much of the coast of the Pacific Northwest was still uncharted. Mapmakers wanted to be able to fill in the location of the Northwest Passage. >> By 1770, England, Spain, and Russia were all sending ships along the Pacific coast but none had found either the Northwest Passage or the mouth of the great river of the west, the river we now call the Columbia. In July 1776, just one week after the American Declaration of Independence was signed, Britain sent one of its most daring explorers on a voyage to the Pacific Northwest, his name was Captain James Cook. This was Cook's third voyage to the Pacific. He set out in his ship the HMS Resolution, and nearly two years later on March 7, 1778, he got his first real look at the Oregon coast. It was St. Perpetua's day.

>> Pacific. That's the name given this ocean by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Pacific means peaceful, and yet Magellan never saw this part of the Oregon coast. When Cook's ship came in sight of the Cape it was so rough and stormy and the waves were so high there was no hope of trying to come ashore. In fact, it was all he could do to hold his own against the stormy ocean. When the weather cleared four days later, Cook could still see the cape, Since he'd first seen it on St. Perpetua's day, he named it Cape Perpetua. This is Captain Cook's Chasm, just south of the Cape. >> Captain Cook never found the Northwest Passage, or the great river of the west. But

farther up the coast his men bought some sea otter furs from the natives. Later, when they were able to sell these for a huge profit in China, word of a new way to make a lot of money spread quickly. In 1788, ten years after Cook's voyage to the Northwest, an American named Robert Gray sailed into these waters in search of sea otter furs. More than ever now, the English wanted to establish their claim on a part of the Northwest. >> To support their claims, and to find out once and for all if the Northwest Passage and the great river of the West did exist, they sent George Vancouver to make a survey of the coast. Vancouver had already made up his mind before he got here. He was so sure that both the Northwest Passage and the river of the West were no more than stories made up by old sailors that he felt it was only right that he set out from England on April 1st, April Fools Day. And George Vancouver was at least half right. He did finally prove that there was no Northwest Passage, no shortcut to the Pacific. But

in the spring of 1792 he failed in the other half of his mission, to find the great river of the West. Vancouver was near the mouth of the Columbia. He saw the clues that this was a large waterway: muddy water, drifting logs, crosscurrents, seagulls. But he didn't believe these signs. He wrote in his log "not considering the opening worthy of more attention, I continued our pursuit to the northwest." >> It just so happened that Captain Robert Gray was in this area at the same time. His ship, the Columbia Rediviva, was also headed north. But unlike Vancouver, he felt certain these clues might lead to the entrance of the great river of the West. At four in the morning on May 11th, Gray arrived at the river's mouth. The waters were so dangerous they waited four hours until the winds, the tide and the currents were just right. And when Gray gave the command, they crashed through the waves and entered the great river of the West. Captain Gray named the river the Columbia,

after his ship. This great discovery would soon encourage other American traders to use the Columbia River for their winter camps. >> Even more importantly, the presence of the United States was, for the first time, established in Western America. >> And what became of the Alsea people here along the coast? They wanted a chance to trade with the men who came in ships. Unfortunately those trading ships also brought diseases such as measles and smallpox. Diseases the Indians had no way of fighting. >> Village life for the Alseas and other coastal tribes would never be the same again. >> Even though Robert Gray had found the Columbia River, nobody knew yet where it started or how far it went. >> To find that out would be the challenge for explorers coming west by land in a few short years. And

Thomas Jefferson, who would soon become president, was already making plans. >> We're back at the Cape Perpetua visitor center. It's operated by the National Forest Service and free to the public. The center is open seven days a week during the summer and most weekends during the rest of the year. >> Special exhibits and displays here can provide information about the natural history of the area. And you can find more information at exhibits about the early exploration of the Oregon coast on display at the Oregon Historical Center in Portland. >> I just can't get over how great it is here. It's one of the most beautiful parts of the Oregon coast. >> Something about the ocean air makes me so hungry. >> Me too. >> And you know what sounds good? >> Don't tell me. Seafood. [music plays] >> Landmarks of the Old Oregon Country. Visiting historic places in the

Northwest. >> Hi I'm Jane Ferguson. >> And I'm Mark Sparks. >> And we're standing outside the front gate of Fort Clatsop National Memorial about six miles south of Astoria, Oregon. Although no trace of the

original fort has ever been found, historians believe this replica stands on, or close to, the actual site. It was built in 1955, and based on a sketch by Captain William Clark. >> And to help us with our story, we're going to have the aid of some of the fort's special interpreters. >> Interpreters? >> That's right. Men and women who dress in clothing similar to that worn by the explorers are a special feature here at Fort Clatsop National Memorial. They can demonstrate many of the skills needed by Lewis and Clark to survive that long winter of over 180 years ago. >> Sounds exciting. [gunshot and fiddle music] >>At daylight this morning we were awoke by the discharge of firearm of all our party, and a salute, shouts, and a song which the whole party joined in. That was how Captain William Clark, writing in his journal, described Christmas morning at Fort Clatsop in 1805. Clark and his company had a lot to be grateful for. Together

with his partner, Meriwether Lewis, and the 31 other members of their Corps of Discovery, they had safely traveled 4000 miles from St. Louis Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia River and the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean. >> And yet in some ways their greatest challenge lay ahead. It had been 19 months since they left family and friends behind. President Thomas Jefferson sent them to the Pacific Ocean by way of the Columbia and Missouri Rivers. He told them to map their route in careful detail and to establish friendly relations with the Indians. Along the way, they recorded in their journals information about this land, it's people, animals, and plant life. >> But on this Christmas day, their holiday meal did little to lift their spirits. "Our dinner consisted of poor elk, so much spoiled that we ate it through mere necessity. Some spoiled pounded fish and a few roots." >> On November 15th the explorers had gotten their first glimpse of the Pacific surf near the mouth of

the Columbia River. They were almost too tired to be excited, for winter was nearly upon them and they badly needed rest, better food and a chance to recover from their long journey. Lewis and Clark had hoped that when they reached the Oregon coast they might find a ship from which they could obtain trading goods for their return journey, and possibly send one or two explorers back by sea with a copy of the journals. But as they watched the horizon day after day, it became clear that they would have to make their return back the way they had come. And since the mountain passes would be buried under snow and ice until spring, winter quarters had to be found, and quickly. >> With the weather showing no signs of improving the company began its search for a suitable site for their winter encampment. And by the early part of December they had decided on a location on the southern side of the Columbia by a small river called the Natal by the local Clatsop Indian tribe. Here wood

was plentiful. Deer and elk were abundant. Tall trees protected them from the fierce ocean storms. And there were close to both the coast and the Columbia River. >> By this time the Corps of Discovery numbered thirty three. Including captains Lewis and Clark, three sergeants, 23 privates, Clark's servant York, and two interpreters. One of them, Toussaint Charbonneau, had brought his wife, a Shoshoni Indian woman by the name of Sacagawea, and their baby son Jean-Baptiste, who was not yet one year old. >> On December 9 they began to build a small fort. A sketch on the elk skin cover of Captain Clark's Field book shows the fort's plan. And though the company was very tired, they worked long hours in the rain and the cold and were able to move in on Christmas Eve, 1805. >> In honor of their friendly native neighbors the Clatsop tribe, they named their winter home Fort Clatsop. As we enter

through the main gate we can see on this side of the fort the three rooms which housed the 23 soldiers and three sergeants. This is the room of the Charbonneau family. The expedition's interpreter and guide, Toussaint Charbonneau, lived in here with his wife Sacagawea and their baby son John Baptist whom Captain Clark affectionately called Little Pomp, or Pompy. Pompy had traveled with his mother on this incredible journey, probably carried on her back in a cradle board very much like this one. And on a wet and wintry day that February he celebrated his first birthday at the fort. Sacagawea is famous as the only woman in Lewis and Clark's company. She shared their hardships bravely and helped them learn to survive on what food could be found in the wilderness. And perhaps most importantly, her presence in the company helped assure native tribes that they had nothing to fear from these strange intruders. >> Through here are the quarters of Lewis and Clark, where we were earlier. Here during those

long winter days the captains oversaw all the activities of the fort. And working by candlelight, at their stand up desks, they at last had time to devote to their journals. Their descriptions of the lives, language and customs of the coastal Indian tribes of Northern Oregon are among the best ever compiled. And while Captain Lewis collected pages and pages of descriptions and drawings of the local plants and animals, Captain Clark worked on a completed map of their route to the Pacific and planned their return trip. These are the orderlies quarters where York, Clark's servant, and the one black man to participate in the expedition, stayed. And here's the entrance to the meat storage room where fires for smoking the meats burned constantly. >> The Corps of Discovery would spend the next three and a half months at Port Clatsop, living with a climate

future Oregonians would come to know very well: rainy winters. [sound of dripping water] During the next 106 days there would be only twelve days without rain and only six days of sunshine. And for a company already weary and struggling to hold their soaked and rotted clothing together, it was a challenge every bit as tough as any they'd encountered before. Even wearing one of these hats woven from cedar bark and bear grass by the Indians could only help a little. >> Adding to their problems and causing more than just a few sleepless nights were fleas. Thousands of fleas everywhere, crawling inside their bedding and their clothing. Those pesky little bugs were just as anxious to get out of the rain as the explorers were. Makes me itchy just to think about it. Let's go warm up by the fire. >> Every day we hear about eating the right foods. Well the members of the Corps of Discovery were

concerned about their diet too. But although they had quite a variety of foods at Fort Clatsop, they often had to eat the same thing for days. By the time they had settled with the fort it was agreed that the favorite food among many of the Explorers was not salmon, not venison, not elk. It was dog. In his journal, Captain Lewis wrote "for my own part I have become so perfectly reconciled to the dog that I think it an agreeable food, and would prefer it vastly to lean venison or elk." But it should be pointed out that Captain Lewis's own dog, who made the journey with him, never found his way onto the company menu. >> At Fort Clatsop, elk were to prove far more important to their survival than the occasional treat of a roast dog. That winter their hunting parties killed a total of 131 elk and 20 deer. Roasted, dried or boiled, elk was often the only thing they had to eat and they ate a lot of it. About five to seven pounds of meat per person every day. Imagine a

well balanced meal of an elk steak with a side of roast elk and for dessert elk. >> Nearly as important to the explorers was the use of elk hides for making clothing and moccasins. Dressing elk and deer skins was another daily activity at the fort. And that January Captain Lewis complained that his men didn't have enough brains to tan their hides. What he meant was that the only way they had of dressing the hides was by a process which used the brains of the animal to make the hides soft and workable. >>Having >> Having to do things in the rain just made them that much harder. And what's the hardest thing you can do in the rain? Starting a fire. Park Ranger Dan Detillio was also an interpreter here at Fort Clatsop. And he's going to demonstrate for us a fire starting tool that was essential to all the explorers. What is it Dan? >> Mark, this is a tinderbox. Each member of the expedition would have had one, and it was used for starting fires.

It carried your tender inside, which could have been any flammable substance that was very dry, in this case it's dry cedar bark. You also had a flint and steel that you carried along with that. You'd hit the flint on steel, to get sparks. And what you try to do is you try to catch one of those sparks on a piece of burnt material. See what happens? The next step would be to put that into your dry tinder and try to blow it into a fire. >> That's already smoking. [sound of Dan blowing] >>There. >>Thank you Dan. That's amazing. And why else was fire so important? Not just for the heat, but also light. [music] Candles were very important to the explorers. So much so that they even brought their own

candle molds with them. And when their supply of tallow candles ran out in mid-January, with Sacagawea's help, they managed to render new tallow from elk fat by boiling meat to bones in a kettle, then pouring off the fat into the molds with the wicks tied in place. When it cooled and pulled away from the molds, they simply had to untie the wicks and pull out a new supply of candles to give them light through the long, dark winter nights. >> About 200 yards from the fort is this canoe landing. As close as can be determined, this is the original site where the expedition first stepped ashore in December of 1805. This is the river the Indians and explorers call the Netal. Today it is known as the Lewis and Clark river. From here, it was easy for the company to reach the Columbia River downstream and elk hunting areas upstream. After crossing the Rocky Mountains, the explorers learned from the Nez

Perce Indians how to make dugout canoes with fire. From a single giant log they would carve the outer structure, and then by setting controlled fires within the log, they could burn away the inside of the canoe, carving it, and being careful not to let the fires get out of control. A finished dugout canoe would have looked something like this. Built to run the rapid rivers and withstand bumping into hidden rocks. >> The Clatsops, and the members of several other local tribes, remained friendly and helpful during that winter. Many even set up camp near the fort to make visits and trading easier. These are trading beads like those brought by the explorers. The company found that the blue and white beads were favored above all others by the coastal tribes, and they used them to bargain for food, clothing, and information. Do you know where the visitor's center is by any chance? >> That will cost one strand of blue beads, the large ones. >> Fair enough. [laughs] >> After a hard winter, Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery prepared themselves for the long trip home.

>> And when they said goodbye to the fort in March, they were ready to go. The journey to Ford Clatsop had taken them 19 months, but it would take them a mere six months to make it all the way back to a hero's welcome in St. Louis, Missouri. >> Fort Clatsop a halfway point in the expedition, a trip which helped this country establish its claim to the Oregon territories and to encourage others to make a long trip to the West. The Fort Clatsop national memorial is located about six miles south of Astoria, Oregon, just off Highway 101. The memorial, its visitors center, and museum are open and free to the public every day of the year, except Christmas. >> And the living history presentations by interpreters, like the ones who helped us out on this visit, are featured during the summer months. Together with the visitors center's displays, slideshows, and films, they share with visitors the feel, smell and taste of

life as it might have been led at Fort Clatsop during Lewis and Clark's winter encampment over 180 years ago. [music plays] >> Landmarks of the Old Oregon Country. Visiting historic places in the Northwest. [music plays]

[music plays] >> Lewis and Clark's cross-country journey to the Pacific, along with Robert Gray's discovery of the Columbia River, gave the United States a good claim to the lands west of the Rocky Mountains. But for nearly 40 years after Lewis and Clark's expedition, almost all business and trade in the old Oregon country was dominated by a company from England. Hello again I'm Mark sparks. >> And I'm Jane Ferguson. Our search for landmarks from the

old Oregon country has taken us into the state of Washington this time. >> Just across the Columbia River, north of Portland, to Fort Vancouver. Fort Vancouver is a national historic site. It was built on the exact location of the original fort which burned to the ground in 1866. Many of the fort's buildings are still waiting to be rebuilt where they once stood inside the fort. But since 1966, the National Park Service has rebuilt the walls of the fort's stockade and several of the buildings. Including the bastion, the company trade store, the blacksmith shop, the bakery, and the chief factors house. The modern day sounds of nearby traffic and airplanes are a reminder of how much things have changed. >> So it's lucky that here at Fort Vancouver, as we did in Fort Clatsop, we'll again have the help of trained interpreters to tell us the story of the inland fur trade.

>> This is the chief factor's house. >> That's right. He and his family made their home in the rooms on this side of the house, and in these rooms lived his assistant James Douglas with his wife and their four daughters. >> Next question: what's a chief factor? >> An officer in charge of all the business at a trading center like Fort Vancouver was known as the chief factor. But before we go any further we need to know more about who the chief factor worked for: the Hudson's Bay Company. The Hudson's Bay Company was the first great English trading company in North America. Their ships and trading posts in the New World were carefully controlled from the company's offices in far away London. And for many years Indians from all over the central and eastern parts of Canada brought furs to Hudson's Bay Company trading posts to trade for blankets, beads, tools, and other supplies. A fair deal for both the Indians and the company meant the fur trade would continue in peace. And the idea of a fair bargain may have been the meaning of the company's motto, which in Latin means "a

skin for a skin." The man who lived here was not only the chief factor of Fort Vancouver, but he was also its founder. His name was Dr John McLoughlin, and he was the man many people now call the father of Oregon. >> And to think he and his family could be living like this a little over 20 years after Lewis and Clark spent their hard winter not all that far from here at Fort Clatsop. Things were starting to change very quickly. >> They certainly were, and Lewis and Clark helped it all get started. In their accounts of their trip, they told of an abundance of beaver living along the streams of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest. Fur trappers and traders from England, and the United States, became very interested in the Northwest. Beaver pelts could bring a good price on the world market, and trappers and traders began a kind of race to see who would control the inland fur trade

in the Northwest. Two English fur trading companies were already making their way west. The Hudson's Bay Company and their chief competitor the Northwest Company of Montreal. But it was an American, John Jacob Astor, who made the first move. Astor was the richest man in America. In 1808 he organized the Pacific fur company and began plans to build a central trading station at the mouth of the Columbia. He sent one party by land, and one by sea. Many setbacks awaited Astor's men. But in spite of their hardships, by 1812 the American flag was flying over Astoria. Then came the War of 1812 between England and the United States. And the English, who had a much stronger hold on the North- west, purchased Astoria and renamed it Fort George. For the next 30 years England would have nearly complete control of the Northwest, overseeing its trading outposts along the Columbia and beyond.

Mmm, something smells delicious. >> The cook is preparing something special. I tell you what, let's explore the fort and meet back here when it's ready. >> It's a deal. >> Oh, I hope you don't mind eating in the kitchen. >> Why can't we eat in here? >> You'll find out. Until the closure of the fort in 1860, the Hudson's Bay Company employees and their families lived here in peace. The high walls of the stockade were built mainly to prevent thieves from stealing supplies. And the cannons housed in the bastion, a combination lookout and gun tower, were never fired in anger. The cannons here were fired only to salute the arrival of special ships, but they were ready if there ever was a threat of danger. The bastion was built in 1845 at a time when the fear of attack was very real. It wasn't an Indian attack this British company feared. They were afraid the growing numbers of American settlers might decide to claim the fort for the United States. But that attack never came.

>> The Hudson's Bay Company joined with the Northwest Company and became even more powerful. For the next 35 years Fort Vancouver was the center of the fur trade in the Northwest And under the watchful eye of chief factor McLoughlin, the fort community kept growing. Trappers and traders could find anything they needed here at the Fort's trade store. Members of the neighboring Chinook and Klickitat Indian tribes were also frequent visitors. The Hudson Bay Point blanket was a trademark of the company and was always a favorite trade item. These four marks mean this is a four point blanket. It would cost a trader four excellent beaver pelts. >> [sound of blacksmith working] Dr. McLoughlin knew that any tools or supplies that could be made here at the fort would make it less dependent on shipments of supplies ordered from England. So the role of the

blacksmith here became very important. Michael Derrick is an interpreter here at the blacksmith shop. As you can see, he does a lot more than just talk about what went on in the original shop. Hi Michael. >> Hi Mark. >> Michael I was wondering what some of the Fort blacksmith's jobs were besides making and repairing traps. >> Well they had many other duties. The blacksmiths were the mechanics of their day. And if they were good they could make a repair almost anything of iron and steel. The ships that sailed up the Columbia to the fort often needed major repairs. And when Dr. McLoughlin tried to start a lumber mill and encourage farming in the area, there were plows and other tools to be made. Blacksmiths were the king of the craftsman. It was their presence here at Fort Vancouver that really made this so much more than just another fur trading post. They made this a strong and independent community. >> Was this made here at the fort? >> Yes it was. It helped if the blacksmith could make a mean Beaver trap. >> The work of the trappers was a dirty and often dangerous business. And staying healthy in

this rugged land wasn't easy. Tending to the needs of everyone who came to the fort seeking help was very important to chief factor McLoughlin. And he wouldn't deny aid to anyone, even his American competitors. Here in the same building as the trade store are the company hospital and the apartment of Dr. Barkley, the company physician, and his family. In the name of the Hudson's Bay Company, doctor McLoughlin was bringing civilization to this part of the world. He made sure there would be a place where people could find supplies, get something fixed or see a doctor. And he saw that they all had something to eat. Trappers, traders, clerks, or sailors, everybody at Fort Vancouver needed to eat. At the fort bakery bread and sea biscuits were prepared in brick ovens. Sea biscuits were rock hard crackers used onboard ships and by trappers during long winters. What they lacked in flavor, they made up for by lasting a long, long time.

>> Winters for those Hudson's Bay Company trappers were long indeed. In the east Indians did almost all the trapping for the company. But here in the west bands of trappers were sent out under orders from the company to spend the winters collecting furs. These bands were called brigades. And later on Hudson's Bay Company Governor George Simpson sent them out on missions to discourage all other trappers. And what was Simpson's plan to keep other trappers out of the area? He had his brigade's trap-out whole regions. He had them go in and trap every fur bearing animal until there were none left. Simpson's plan worked, to a point. The company got rich and made it very hard on other trappers. But beavers soon became too hard to find, and the American settlers kept coming to the Oregon country whether Simpson liked it or not. Well there you are, you're just in time. What's that?

>> A sea biscuit. The original jaw breaker. Want a bite? >> No, thanks I'll wait for lunch. We're down in the kitchen. Located just behind the chief Factor's House. David Hanson, the curator here at Fort Vancouver, is making soup. The first course for traditional meals served in the dining room or mess hall. >> The midday meal was one of the big events of the day. >> If soup was the first course, how many courses were there? >> Seven or eight, usually. The English loved doing things very formally. Here at the Fort, dinner time was very different from what the average American settler would have had. >> Who was served in the mess hall? >> Only the commissioned officers of the company and very special guests. >> Weren't women included? No I'm afraid not. >> Not even their wives? Not even Dr. McLoughlin's wife? >> No that was the rule. >> I'm glad we don't have rules like that anymore. >> Remember when I said we'd be eating in the kitchen? >> Yeah. >> Many of the American settlers who visited here didn't care much for some of the rules of the fort, but they just

had a very different way of doing things back then. >> Who ate at this table? >> The staff. Nothing fancy down here, but that was part of their world. Everyone had to know his place and learn to accept it. And Dr. McLoughlin knew that for most of them living with the old rules was better than trying to survive with no rules at all. >> Thanks >> Thank you very much David, it smells delicious. >> Oh brother. >> My pleasure. And I do hope you'll come back for Queen Victoria's birthday celebration. >> I can't get over it. Just finding food had been a matter of life and death for Lewis and Clark. But here at Fort Vancouver, only a few years later, Dr. McLoughlin could eat in a fine dining room with all the comforts. He really brought civilization to the Northwest. >> He also made the fur trade more successful than it had ever been before. >> He gave farming and industry their first real beginnings in the Northwest. >> He proved a community

could not only survive here, but also grow and live in peace with the native people. >> And in spite of being ordered to discourage Americans from settling and trading here, he offered help to anyone who needed it. >> I'm beginning to understand why he's been called the father of Oregon. After serving as chief factor here at Fort Vancouver for 22 years, Dr. John McLoughlin was to play another important part in the history of the Oregon country. But we'll be learning more about that later on. >> By the 1840s there were very few beaver left in Oregon. And when the Hudson's Bay Company moved its headquarters out of Fort Vancouver in 1849, the inland fur trade was almost over. >> More and more missionaries and settlers were coming West, but it was time to decide once and for all whether England or the United States would control Oregon. >> Our visit to the Fort Vancouver national historic site ends here, in the visitors center.

Like the Fort, it's open daily from 9:00 to 5:00. Here you'll find more displays and information about the history of the Fort and the people who lived and work there. >> And with the help of the Fort's interpretive tours, you can get a clearer picture of the contributions of Dr. McLoughlin and Fort Vancouver to the inland fur trade and to the history of Oregon.