One of the most critical moments of the journey led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark was their decision to poll the Corps about where to spend the winter after reaching the Pacific Ocean.
The events leading up to the Vote left the Corps exhausted, hungry, wet, and miserable. Their clothes were literally rotting off their backs from the persistent rain. The stormy weather and treacherous currents of the Columbia River battered them for days as they rolled on drift logs against the steep shoreline along the Washington side of the river. They had hiked for miles exploring Cape Disappointment and the Peninsula coast where they saw the great California Condor, a beached whale, and had finally laid eyes on the Pacific Ocean, thus completing their mission and promise to President Jefferson.
The native people, called the Chinooks, had already moved east up river to their own winter camp leaving only a few tribal members in the area. The Corps had little left to trade for food or other necessities.
