Place your own vote about where to spend the winter, then see how York, Sacagawea, and members of the Corps voted.
PROS AND CONS TO HEAD EAST UP RIVER FOR WINTER CAMP OR TO CROSS AND EXAMINE THE SOUTH SHORE OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER
PROS TO HEADING EAST
- The Corps had passed through two good sites and knew that they both contained plentiful food and offered ideal winter encampment conditions
- Better weather (less rain)
CONS
- Requires traveling 100 miles just to the Sandy River site. Even further to reach the falls.
- The Corps is exhausted and wet.
- Weather is colder in the Columbia Gorge area.
PROS TO CROSS AND EXAMINE
- Fewer miles to travel, which means a winter camp could be quickly established
- Trading Ships. Remaining at the mouth of the Columbia River could mean possibly meeting with a trading ship, which offered supplies and return passage home.
- More elk.
- Salt. By staying near the “ocian,” the Corps could make salt for the return trip home.
CONS TO CROSS AND EXAMINE
- No time to waste. The Corps was wet, hungry, and running out of supplies. If they cross and examine the south shore and discover that there isn’t enough elk or other supplies to sustain the Corps, then they have lost valuable time that could be spent moving east.
- Unknown territory. They haven’t explored the south side of the river, so only know what they’ve heard from local natives about what is available.
- Lack of adequate clothes and provisions.
- Weather. It “rained as usual,” they began many entries of the journals during their stay at the coast. The rain showed no signs of letting up or subsiding during the long winter months ahead.
