Hansen's Northwest Native Plant Database

Celebrating The Corps of Discovery Expedition Bicentennial

Originally Published June 20, 2003

The Expedition's Journey Continues:

On the morning of June 18, the Corps awakens to find their horses have scattered hither and yon in search of food. He says:

At 9 o'clock we collected them all except one of Drouilliard's and one of Shields's. We set out, leaving Shields and Lepage to collect the two lost horses and follow us. We dispatched Drouilliard and Shannon to the Chopunnish Indians in the plains beyond the Kooskooskee in order to hasten the arrival of the Indians who had promised to accompany us, or to procure a guide at all events and rejoin us as soon as possible. We sent by them a rifle, which we offered as a reward to any of them who would engage to conduct us to Traveler's Rest. We also directed them, if they found difficulty in inducing any of them to accompany us, to offer the reward of two other guns to be given them immediately, and ten horses at the Falls of Missouri.

We had not proceeded far this morning before Potts cut his leg very badly with one of the large knives. He cut one of the large veins on the inner side of the leg. I found much difficulty in stopping the blood, which I could not effect until I applied a tight bandage with a little cushion of wood and tow, on the vein below the wound.

Colter's horse fell with him in passing Hungry Creek and himself and horse were driven down the creek a considerable distance rolling over each other among the rocks. Fortunately he escaped without injury or the loss of his gun.

By 1 P.M., we returned to the glade on the branch of Hungry Creek, where we had dined on the 16th inst. Here we again halted and dined. As there was much appearance of deer about this place, we left R. and J. Fields with directions to hunt this evening and tomorrow morning at this place, and to join us in the evening at the meadows of Collins's Creek, where we intend remaining tomorrow in order to rest our horses and hunt. After dinner we proceeded on to Collins's Creek and encamped in a pleasant situation at the upper part of the meadows about 2 miles above our encampment of the 15th inst. We sent out several hunters, but they returned without having killed anything.

They saw a number of salmon [trout] in the creek and shot at them several times, without success. We directed Colter and Gibson to fix each of them a gig in the morning and endeavor to take some of the salmon. The hunters saw much fresh appearance of bear but very little of deer. We hope by means of the fish, together with what deer and bear we can kill, to be enabled to subsist until our guide arrives, without the necessity of returning to the quamash flats (Wally notes this is our friend, the camas!). There is a great abundance of good food here to sustain our horses.

The next day at 2 pm, Shields and Lepage made it back to the group with two deer but without their horses. A few salmon, some deer and one small bear were taken on June 19 and 20 but the provisions were not enough to sustain the Corp. They decided to go back to the quamash flats after all to await their guide.

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:  The Quamash fields The native peoples encountered while the Expedition was in the northwest introduced them to the delicious perennial bulb known as quamash. The meadows that, in spring, are covered in camas flowers are, in May, the quamash fields. The beauty of the spring flowers struck Meriwether Lewis in awe. He said they resembled lakes of blue water. The Common Camas (Camassia quamish) and the large Leichtlini's Camas (Camassia leichtlinii) fields are truly one of spring's delights. For the original peoples, especially verdant fields were tended by different groups. They were kept clear of weeds, especially the Death Camas (Zygadenus venenosus) because when the flowers have gone by, the plants look exactly like the blue camas. Periodically, the fields were burned to remove shrubs. But at all times they were cared for in the best way possible to honor the bulbs beneath the blooms for giving themselves to the peoples. The native nations were very community-minded about the fields. They did not encroach or cause harm to fields belonging to anyone else. The coming settlers had no such qualms and believed their agricultural prowess was superior to the natives. When they tried to force the natives to their ways, the Nez Perce War was the result. For people who lived by hunting, fishing and gathering wild plants, sticking your nose in their food source was no trivial matter. The small bulbs that grow deeply in the earth were a long time traditional dietary mainstay, particularly for people east of the mountains and the coastal nations. The bulbs are cooked in pits which convert the inherent inulin, a carbohydrate to fructose. The amount of sugar rendered is approximately 1/3 of the bulb's dry weight. Care was taken to cook the bulbs sufficiently for the resultant sweetness and also to avoid the problem of intestinal gas caused by eating raw or partially cooked bulbs. Captain Lewis remarked on this feature: “…when in the Indian hut I was almost blown out by the strength of the wind.” Some of the stone-lined pits originally used for this cooking can still be found around the traditional quamash fields. From an article titled "Blue Camas" by Joe Arnett on the NAPNP website: "To dig camas bulbs and then render them edible required a large amount of labour, performed almost entirely by women. While a man’s attractiveness as a potential husband was based partially on his success at hunting and fishing, a woman was valued for her ability to gather volumes of camas bulbs. An average day of harvest may have yielded a bushel of the bulbs, and it has been estimated that one woman with a digging stick could harvest as many as two tons (2,000 kilograms) of bulbs in a year." "First Nations people still gather and consume blue camas bulbs, certainly more for their traditional and cultural nourishment than strictly for their carbohydrate content. And modern gardeners appear to have a hunger for the natural beauty of this native species, so rich in tradition and history with the people of the Pacific Northwest." Thanks to Joe Arnett and the North American Native Plant Society. See their website at www.nanps.org/plant/featuredplants.aspx?article=bluecamas.html
	Drawings of flower and bulb by Gordon Friesen.