This sign is located along the trail from the Fort Clatsop Visitor Center and the reconstructed Fort Clatsop.
Marker Name: Fort Clatsop
Marker Text: ”At this place we had wintered and remained from the 7th of December 1805 to this day, and have lived as well as we had any right to expect . . “ - Captain Clark, Fort Clatsop, March 23, 1806.
Here, at the climax of their westward journey, the Corps of Discovery spent four rainy months preparing for their return. To protect themselves and their supplies, the party built two rows of huts secured by gated palisades. They named it “Fort Clatsop” after the local Clatsop Indians.
Nothing remains of the original fort. The 1955 replica was based on the floor plan and descriptions from the expedition journals. Archaeologists have not pinpointed the fort’s location, but they are certain it was near this site.
Three sergeants and twenty-four men squeezed into three small enlisted men’s quarters and the orderly room. Captains Lewis and Clark shared a room, as did interpreter Charbonneau, his Shoshone wife Sacagawea, and their baby. Clark’s slave Yourk, may have lived near the captains.
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