Tribe again greets buckskin visitors as Lewis and Clark trail ends at coast

CHINOOK, Pacific County — Bud Clark, a descendant of the explorer Capt. William Clark, bent forward to receive a necklace of cobalt-blue beads from Chinook Indian leader Ray Gardner.

For Clark, the solemn gift exchange Tuesday was a chance to say thank you to the Chinook people, whose ancestors welcomed the cold, wet and hungry Lewis and Clark expedition two centuries ago.

For Gardner, vice chairman of the Chinook Nation, it was a chance to ask for help in shining the light of the bicentennial Lewis and Clark commemoration on the Chinooks' long-standing request to be recognized as a tribe by the federal government.

"We hope to get our place back in history, as we deserve," Gardner said.

This week's ceremony was a high point in a re-creation of the epic Corps of Discovery journey. That quest was re-enacted by the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, Mo., which finally reached the Pacific Ocean last week.

"It was very emotional," said Joshua Loftis of Belleville, Ill. "I ran into the ocean with my American flag and dipped it in the sea."

Now in its third year on the trail, the expedition has traveled more than 4,100 miles in its re-enactment of the more than 8,000-mile trek of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Some 238 volunteers from 38 states have joined in, cycling in and out of the epic route to the Pacific. The original explorers numbered 33.

The re-enactment has been a chance to learn, teach and gain a better understanding of the country's diversity, said Bryant Boswell, a dentist from Star, Miss. "The period of history we represent was the beginning of the end for the Native Americans. We were taking away a culture in one half of the country while we were enslaving the other half. It was a very bleak time in this country."

As the expedition crossed through Indian country, Boswell said, he found himself wanting to apologize. "I have a new appreciation for the price that's been paid for the great country we have. I've had my eyes opened, my whole life expanded."

The trip included his first exposure to the Lower Columbia's trademark November weather, which punished the explorers as much today as the first time around, soaking them 17 of the past 19 days.

"Cold! Wet! Miserable!" said Mike Bowman of Plattsmouth, Neb., a descendant of one of the original explorers. It took $10 in quarters and a side trip to a laundromat to get his stuff dry again, Bowman said.

Tents mildewed. Then, finally, one morning before dawn, wind crushed them flat at the mouth of the Columbia, rousting the corps to secure the canvas with big rocks.

As if to reward the crew, the sun came out during the group's final encampment at Chinook. Norman Bowers of St. Louis, leader for this leg of the journey, dried his moccasins on a log and draped a damp American flag on a chair to dry.

Canvas straps used to hold his tent shut had been ripped loose by the wind and were in a wet, forlorn bundle inside the tent, a souvenir, perhaps, of the Columbia River Gorge.

But of course, they are all quick to point out, this was nothing.

In his book "In Full View" (Moffitt House Press, 2002), Rex Ziak of nearby Naselle detailed the misery the Corps of Discovery endured in November 1805 on the Washington side of the Columbia. Hemmed in by storms, unable to proceed, go back or get to a better location, the corps was pinned for days in what the explorers called Dismal Nitch, present-day Megler Cove.

Their tents were in shreds, their buckskins were rotting off their backs from the constant rain, and they had nothing to eat but dried fish.

The modern-day Discovery Expedition skipped Dismal Nitch — there was nowhere to camp. But arrival at the Pacific was a relief nonetheless.

For Sid Stoffels of Garden Valley, Calif., it was bittersweet. "Once I saw the ocean, it was magical. But that also means it's over, and I am not ready for it to be over."

Not to worry: Most of the re-enactors know just where they want to be next March.

Back at Fort Clatsop, where Lewis and Clark wintered, for the return leg of the journey.

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com