Top Ten Reasons Why
Lewis and Clark Hated Oregon
Harry W. Fritz
Department of History,
University of Montana
The Expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the Pacific Ocean and back in the years from 1803 to 1806 is universally depicted as a successful, glamorous, exciting, and even romantic adventure. It was all that, but it was also, at times, dull, dreary, dangerous, and downright boring. Winter at Fort Mandan at forty below, so cold a man's penis froze in the course of normal duties, was no fun. The month-long sojourn at the Great Falls of the Missouri , with its arduous portage, lack of Shoshoni informants, failure of iron boat, and exhaustion of the booze supply, was nobody's holiday. But of all the Expedition's layovers, the 137 days spent in the Columbia River estuary, in modern Washington and Oregon , was the most frustrating, unfulfilling, monotonous segment of the entire journey.
To put it bluntly, Lewis and Clark hated Oregon and Washington . Here, are the Top Ten reasons why.