Many visitors come to see the Lewis and Clark Expedition Fort Clatsop replica each year in the Fort Clatsop National Historical Park. But how did anyone know where the original one was built?

Although Fort Clatsop, built in December 1805, was the first American military structure west of the Rocky Mountains, it wasn’t built to last. The Corps of Discovery only stayed in the log-built encampment for 106 days (only 12 of which were not rainy), according to the Oregon Encyclopedia.

On March 22, 1806, William Clark wrote in his journal that while they were packing the canoes to start the journey back east, Clatsop Chief Coboway visited the corps, and “to this chief we left our houses and furniture.” The Corps of Discovery departed the following day at 1 p.m.

Not surprisingly, the weather destroyed most of the original buildings, and homesteaders burnt or removed the rest. Thankfully, the fort’s location was saved both by the homesteaders and by Chief Coboway, via oral tradition, passing the information down through his descendants.

In 1901, the Oregon Historical Society bought 3 acres in the area around the fort, fixing the location using the corps’ original maps, contemporary maps and surveys and personal accounts. 

Perhaps the replica fort might not be on the exact original location, but that’s for scholars to quibble about as a “matter of continuing study.” (Image: Oregon Historical Society Research Library)