On Monday, 209 years ago, Lewis and Clark left our region. They had intended to leave on March 22, but heavy winds prevented the departure.

Only one day’s provisions remained, so the 23rd was their drop-dead date.

Two members of the Corps of Discovery were ill or in pain, but there was no emergency room. Leaving them behind was out of the question.

So at 1 p.m., the party brought cargo from Fort Clatsop to the Netul River (now named Lewis and Clark River). Canoes were loaded and the party left for a rendezvous with elk hunters who had been sent ahead to what we call Tongue Point. They had named it Point William.

Like the expedition’s arrival in late November, the March departure is one of the most significant anniversaries in the Columbia-Pacific region. No more celebrated visitors have come our way and no such consequential mission has visited us.

Last Friday at noon, it was brisk under the picnic shelter at Fort Clatsop National Memorial. Superintendent Scott Tucker and I chided ourselves for noticing the chill in the air as we pored over the record of that day in 1805. The explorers were wearing buckskin and not much more. And here we were with modern outerwear — feeling the weather.

Over 26 years I have enjoyed the custom of marking Lewis and Clark’s departure with various Fort Clatsop superintendents. My first such occasion was with Frank Walker. He and I sat on tree stumps in the sunlight. The weather marking this year’s departure was more authentic.

The language of Lewis and Clark’s journals gives us a picture of that moment when the westbound travelers reversed course and headed east.

Wrote Lewis, “Altho’ we have not fared sumptuously this winter and spring at Fort Clatsop, we have lived quite as comfortably as we had any reason to expect we should.”

On the day prior to leaving, Lewis reports, “We were visited by Comowooll (Coboway) and 3 of the Clatsops. To this Chief we left our houses and furniture.”

To the ear of a 21st century American, the most startling reminder — by Pvt. Joseph Whitehouse — is that the expedition will “make a start to the United States.” They had journeyed far beyond the boundary of their nation — to a region inhabited by the Chinooks and other tribes — Sgt. Patrick Gass identifies them as “Clatsop, Chin-ook, Cath-la-mas, Cal-a-mex and Chiltz — nations who inhabit the seacoast, all dress in the same manner.”

The Corps left with enough salt for the long walk to the Missouri River and 383 pairs of moccasins to get them there (“the most of them good Elk Skins Mockasons.”)

A number of archaeological digs have failed to yield evidence of Lewis and Clark’s three-month residence. To a wall they nailed a proclamation of their time at Fort Clatsop and their gift of it to Coboway. It disappeared in the mist of time.

— S.A.F.

The three-month stay at Fort Clatsop yielded enough salt for the trip home and 383 pairs of moccasins.