Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/64

 umbia on Sunday, May 22, 1814. Alexander Henry's journal was "minutely and precisely kept up to the day before his death."

Dec. 14, 1813. Fort Clatsop

We walked up to see the old American winter quarters of Captains Lewis and Clark in 1805–6, which are in total ruins, the wood having been cut down and destroyed by the Indians; but the remains are still visible. In the fort are already grown up shoots of willows 25 feet high. The situation is the most pleasant I have seen hereabouts, and by far the most eligible, both as to security from the natives and for hunting. The place is deeply shaded with spruce, pine, sapin, etc.; the woods seemed gloomy and dark, the beams of the sun being prevented from reaching the ground through so thick a foliage. Having examined this spot, we returned to our horses, which are left in care of the Indians; there being no grass near the fort, we allow them to graze on the salt marsh along the bay and river.

Dec. 24, 1813

The almost incessant rain we have had is truly unpleasant, and I fear will have a bad effect on our men, who are now building a house for themselves; they are daily exposed to the inclemency of the weather, wet to the skin, tramping through mud and water all day, and at night without other shelter than bars covered with mats, which must be very damp. Even in the garret of our storehouses; which is perfectly tight and stanch, things become moldy and will rot. During the rainy season there is no moving out of doors, except in mud and water. If you step on a stone or billet of wood, ten to one you measure your length on the ground; everything is slippery with green moss; even the stockades and buildings are becoming incrusted.

Gabriel Franchere, one of the literary clerks about whom Captain Thorn wrote rather scornfully to Astor, had his notes rounded out and published in a book several years in advance of volumes by his