The Oregon Coast

The Oregon coast is very cold and foggy.  So far i haven't seen the sun.  We are wet almost all of the time.  We have built a fort that the men have agreed to name Fort Clatsop to spend the winter in.  I have a special spot on a hill looking over the coast.  I wait there every day that I have off to see if any shop will come by.  Once I thought that I saw a whale, but it only came up once.   At night we have to write in candle light in front of the fire to keep warm.  The only food that we have to eat is fish.  Much less then we are used to.  The snow is just starting to fall and the men are getting the last things inside for the winter.

The Mountain Lady Slipper

As we rested on the mountain side beside the river, we came across a little glen full of beautiful flowers.  They looked like a lady's slipper.  They had three petals pointing outward from the center and a big petal that came down and cupped around like a little bowl.  The outer 3 petals were a deep brown red color and the cupped petal was a creamy white color.  The flowers grew up on green stalks and the leaves were a bright green.  

Philadelphus Lewisii

Today Captain Lewis found a beautiful shrub.  It was a rounded shape and was 2 meters in height.  It had red and gray tendrils that reach outward. The leaves were oval and light green with a rough texture.  The flowers grew at the end of the stems, they had 4 white petals and many yellow stamens.  The flowers had a beautiful cent, a little like an orange blossom.  Sacagawea said that the indians used this plant for many purposes: the hard wood for hunting tools, furniture and pipes, while the bark and leaves were mixed together to make a soap.  

Clarkia Pulcella

Today I'm writing about a special plant that we have found.  The other day Captan Lewis found a beautiful little flower.  It was a light purple, the petals were very narrow at the center and forked out to form a trident shaped point.  Lewis found it on the edge of a meadow, surrounded by little grasses.  He decided to name it in honor of William Clark.