The Wild Garden: Hansen's Northwest Native Plant Database

Celebrating The Corps of Discovery Expedition Bicentennial

Originally Published January 16, 2003

Botanical Discoveries: Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum)

Fort Clatsop, Oregon, January 27, 1806

This northwest native shrub was first noted by Captain Lewis at Oregon's Fort Clatsop on January 27, 1806. Later documentation--Pursh notes:

"A Shrub of 7 or 8 feet high, Supposed to be a Species of Vaccinium; the berries are eaten by the natives. On the Pacific Ocean Fort Clatsop. Jan: 27th 1806."

Favored by native peoples Quinault, Straits Salish and others, the dusky berries of the native huck are hunted far and wide when they begin to ripen in the late summer, early autumn. Though said to reach their best flavor after the first frost, the piquant juiciness is nonetheless a longtime staple for many a knowledgeable woodsman.

The shrub offers year-round beauty with it's dark shiny green leaves, paler underneath, it's pink flowers and those beautiful and delicious shiny fruits. The Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) is a lovely and appropriate shrub for inclusion in your Lewis and Clark garden. The pleasing bushy shape is a sturdy specimen or natural companion at the edge of coniferous trees.

Delicious, ripe and juicy wild huckleberries -- Oh, my! Baked in a pie, made into jam or eaten fresh out of hand, the Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) is one of my very favorite northwest native plants.

This shrub is a "must-have" for every native garden. Beautiful and very well behaved in the landscape, loved by birds and children alike. Robert Frost's poem, Blueberries, begins:

"You ought to have seen what I saw on my way

To the village, through Mortenson's pasture to-day:

Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb,

Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum

In the cavernous pail of the first one to come!

And all ripe together, not some of them green

And some of them ripe! You ought to have seen!"

Was he writing about tamed and hybridized and cultured blueberries, do you think? No! He was writing about wild blue berries -- huckleberries! I think Mark Twain named our beloved barefoot boy Huckleberry Finn because he remembered plucking those wonderful blue berries and popping them into his mouth. Standing in the sunshine, juice dripping down his chin, can't you just see him? I can. Northwest native huckleberries. Oh my! Plant some in your garden for your barefoot boy. Or for yourself. And eat some right off the bush, standing in the sun, and remember how it must have been for Huck and Jim.

The Expedition's Journey Continues:

Sent upon their expedition by President Thomas Jefferson and with approval (and $2,500) from the Congress, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark embarked on their legendary 3-year journey, in the company of 33 permanent party members who Captain Lewis called "corps of volunteers for North Western Discovery." President Jefferson said:

"The Object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river & such principal stream of it as by it's course and communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purpose of commerce."

Although the economic thrust of this mission was to find something that actually did not exist (the Northwest Passage), the explorers brought to the "civilized" world an unfathomable wealth in knowledge of botanical information captured in detailed journals, drawings and as many specimens as they could collect and carry. It is for this reason more than any other we at Wallace W Hansen Native Plants of the Northwest are deeply grateful to this adventurous body of men.

They began their journey in a very practical manner. Captain Lewis gathered arms at the Harpers Ferry government arsenal and then guided the construction of an especially designed keelboat which he floated down the Ohio River. Captain Clark met him at Clarksville, Indiana, and Clark and the crew took the boat up the Mississippi. Meanwhile while Captain Lewis rode ahead on horseback to St. Louis to procure more supplies and gather information. Finally the two captains brought their men together and the great adventure began.

"I dispatched an express this morning to Captain Lewis at St. Louis. All our provisions, goods, and equipage on board of a boat of 22 oars [party], a large pirogue of 71 oars [in which 8 French], a second pirogue of 6 oars [soldiers], complete with sails, etc. Men completed with powder cartridges and 100 balls each, all in health and readiness to set out. Boats and everything complete, with the necessary stores of provisions and such articles of merchandise as we thought ourselves authorized to procure-though not as much as I think necessary for the multitude of Indians through which we must pass on our road across the continent." (Bracketed text added by Captain Lewis before publication.)

So wrote Captain Clark at the River Dubois opposite the mouth of the Missouri River on 13 May 1804.

And from the Orderly Book, this notation written at St. Charles, Missouri (just across the Missouri River from St. Louis) on 16 May 1804. (The orderly book was a record kept in each command of all written orders.)

"Note: The commanding officer is fully assured that every man of his detachment will have a true respect for his own dignity and not make it necessary for him to leave St. Charles for a more retired situation."

Go to our Corps of Discovery Expedition Bicentennial Index page to see all links in this series. Or click here to go directly to the next installment of our journey.

Bringing history alive:

Today, there are many books, reproductions of Lewis and Clark's journals and memorabilia available for further study. The gift shop at the Oregon Capitol Building in Salem has several items that commemorate the Expedition. See their website: www.leg.state.or.us/capinfo/