Les Shirley Park.
Where sat an Indian camp, and a beached whale.
And this point was, the end of the trail, for Lewis & Clark.
This spot commemorates, the southern most, and furthest point, visited by the Lewis & Clark party.
Back when William Clark, Sacagawea, and others from the Lewis and Clark expedition hiked here in 1806, they found Indians using hot stones in wooden troughs to render blubber, from a 105-foot beached whale.
Proceeding down Tillamook head, and crossing the creek, William Clark writes, "which I shall call E co-la (a Chinook word), or whale creek. The party came upon the 105 foot skeleton of the whale."
Returning to the creek and the several cedar plank houses on its bank, Clark found the natives, he writes, "busily engaged boiling blubber, which they performed in a large square trough, by means of hot stones."
Clark purchased 300 pounds of blubber and a few gallons of oil.
Heavily laden, they returned to Fort Clatsop.
In his journal, William Clark later wrote thanking "providence for directing the whale to us; and think him much more kind to us than he was to Jonah, having sent this monster to be swallowed by us instead of swallowing of us, as Jonah's did."
Here, just north of the creek near a Tillamook Indian village at the head of the creek, Clark saw that "skelleton of this monster".
They celebrate the spot across the creek at Whale Park, our next stop.
This is a great view point, with Interpretive signs and trail.
Get out here, at Les Shirley Park, for 5 to 10 minutes, and take a look around.
And imagine, in your minds eye, the Indian Camp, right in front of you, at the creek, the Indians cutting up the whale.
And the Lewis & Clark party negotiating to buy some blubber.
Click HERE, to learn the full story of the encounter.
Next stop, is Whale Park.
Where sat an Indian camp, and a beached whale.
And this point was, the end of the trail, for Lewis & Clark.
This spot commemorates, the southern most, and furthest point, visited by the Lewis & Clark party.
Back when William Clark, Sacagawea, and others from the Lewis and Clark expedition hiked here in 1806, they found Indians using hot stones in wooden troughs to render blubber, from a 105-foot beached whale.
Proceeding down Tillamook head, and crossing the creek, William Clark writes, "which I shall call E co-la (a Chinook word), or whale creek. The party came upon the 105 foot skeleton of the whale."
Returning to the creek and the several cedar plank houses on its bank, Clark found the natives, he writes, "busily engaged boiling blubber, which they performed in a large square trough, by means of hot stones."
Clark purchased 300 pounds of blubber and a few gallons of oil.
Heavily laden, they returned to Fort Clatsop.
In his journal, William Clark later wrote thanking "providence for directing the whale to us; and think him much more kind to us than he was to Jonah, having sent this monster to be swallowed by us instead of swallowing of us, as Jonah's did."
Here, just north of the creek near a Tillamook Indian village at the head of the creek, Clark saw that "skelleton of this monster".
They celebrate the spot across the creek at Whale Park, our next stop.
This is a great view point, with Interpretive signs and trail.
Get out here, at Les Shirley Park, for 5 to 10 minutes, and take a look around.
And imagine, in your minds eye, the Indian Camp, right in front of you, at the creek, the Indians cutting up the whale.
And the Lewis & Clark party negotiating to buy some blubber.
Click HERE, to learn the full story of the encounter.
Next stop, is Whale Park.
