Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

$1.00
Published Quarterly by the
Pacific County Historical Society
State of Washington
Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center
November 18, 1805 : "men appear much Satisfied with their trip beholding
with estonishment the high waves dashing against the rocks & this emence Ocian ."
SPRING
1979
William Clark's Journal
Volume XIV
Number 1
A Quarterly Publication of the Pacific County Historical Society, Inc .
A Non-profit Organization
Subscription Rates $4 .00 Annually - Payable in Advance
Address : P.O . Box 384, Raymond, Washington 98577
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office
of Raymond, Washington 98577
Mrs. Harold C. Dixon, Editor
MEMBERSHIP SOLICITED
"Any person interested in the history of Pacific County may be enrolled as a member of the Society
upon receipt by the secretary of the first payment of dues." ($3 .00 per calendar year.)
Our Cover Photo
This picture, furnished for our use by The Washington State Parks, shows the
Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center as it appears today from a seagull's eye view . It
was conceived as an appropriate memorial to mark the accomplishment of a major
event in national history and to recognize the importance of Cape Disappointment .
The ramps leading gently downward portray the period immediately prior to October
10, 1805, when the explorers entered the present State of Washington . After an
area of exhibits, the ramps lead upward and portray the Westernmost history of the
expedition, including a breath-taking view of the river's mouth and the Pacific Ocean .
The two nearby lighthouses, the lifesaving station, the fort and notable shipwrecks are interpreted in interesting ways on the upper level .
The program for the Grand Opening of the Center, which occurred on October
10, 1976, contains this paragraph : "The members of the Expedition travelled by
foot, boat and horse, enduring hardship and deprivation that are now difficult to
conceive . The Lewis and Clark party was remarkable in many ways, but its ability
to hold together in spite of obstacles encountered contributed as much to success as
any other characteristic . This was the direct result of the brilliant leadership of both
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark . The two commended an amzaing number
of talents that made the Expedition not only a great adventure but also a scientific
windfall" .
While Captain Robert Gray had claimed for the United States the lands drained
by the Columbia by right of discovery, this expedition laid claim by right of exploration - truly a major event in national history!
2
Battery Elijah O'Flyng
Onetime Guardian of the Columbia's North Portal
by Rowena L . and Gordon D . Alcorn
Cape Disappointment, on Washington's south-westernmost corner, was named
in frustration by the British explorer John Meares in 1788, when he failed to
recognize the entrance of the Columbia to be the fabled "River of the West" he
sought . (This massive headland protects what is now Baker Bay .)
About 1961 as the tangled undergrowth on top of the 200-foot cliff was
removed an almost forgotten old gun emplacement was partially exposed . This
was the Battery Elijah Temple O'Flyng .
It was on November 1, 1904, that Brigadier General J . H . Story, Chief of
Artillery, made a special report to the War Department recommending that two
new gun emplacements be installed at Fort Canby . One was to be named in honor
of Ensign O'Flyng, 23rd Infantry, who died on September 18, 1814, from wounds
received at Fort Erie, Canada . There would be two 6-inch B .L.R . guns here .
The second would honor Lieut . Colonel Harvey A . Allen, 2nd Artillery, who
had served with distinction during the Mexican and Civil Wars . Here there would
be three 6-inch B .L.R . guns . Guns would be on disappearing carriages in the two
batteries .
By 1865, eight artillery weapons had been put in place on this headland, then
named Cape Hancock . This "Tower Battery" included one 15-inch, five 10-inch,
and two 8-inch smoothbore Rodman cannons .
Gold rushes had reduced the labor supply, so to aid in construction wages
were increased, (Several old-time Ilwaco residents stated that some convict labor
was also used .)
The gun platforms were constructed of extra-thick timbers .
made so that shots could be heated to a glowing red .
Furnaces were
Cape Hancock's name was changed to Fort Canby in January, 1875, to honor
the memory of Brevet Major General Edward R . S . Canby, who was killed by Modoc
Indians on April 11, 1873 . (Refer to the Sou'Wester for Summer 1968 .)
3
William K . Inman, now deceased, with author, Rowena L . Alcorn .
Photo by Dr, Gordon D . Alcorn
I
That 15-inch Rodman was placed in front of but too close to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse . When it was fired on May 1, 1898, to celebrate Admiral
Dewey's victory at Manila, it cracked the lighthouse lens . After that incident, the
Rodman was moved farther to the south .
The late William K . Inman, who came in Ilwaco in 1894, was for many years
in the Cape Disappointment Life-Saving Service . He remembered about the installation of Battery Elijah O'Flyng, which was started in 1905 and completed the
following year .
"A road up there from the beach was made a few hundred yards beyond the
present Coast Guard Station . They had put railroad tracks on it so that supplies
could be hauled up there by means of a donkey engine . The battery was made of
concrete with all the interior walls finished with surface-treated blocks of the
hollow-type concrete to prevent condensation .
"The builders had many setbacks," according to Inman . "One day, the cable
snapped from the donkey engine and several cars loaded with sand and cement,
plummeted down the incline dumping all of its cargo into Baker Bay ."
In 1906 when O'Flyng Battery was completed, Inman with his wife Maude, and
her sister, Mae Stansbury, who was visiting from California, walked up to the
Battery . Somehow, Mrs . Stansbury accidentally tripped the mechanism on one of
the disappearing guns. "When it suddenly rose up out of that pit, it certainly gave
us quite a scare," he recalled .
But what of the war hero, Elijah Temple O'Flyng?
Our correspondence with the Old Wars Department Archivist, revealed that
he was a member of a most remarkable patriotic Irish family in upper New York
State . The father, Patrick O'Flyng, had enlisted on April 24, 1775, as a private
in John Moor's Company of Colonel John Stark's New Hampshire Regiment .
O'Flyng had fought bravely in the Battle of Bunker Hill .
Re-enlisting, he became Quartermaster Sergeant during 1776-77 . Then he was
in the Battle of the Susquehanna in General Sullivan's Indian Expedition in August
1779.
For the following 30 years he tilled the soil but in 1813 he enlisted in David
Scott's 23rd Infantry. He was then 62 years old! On that day, January 27, 1813,
at Batavia, New York, his four sons also joined the Army with him : Patrick Jr .
Elijah, Edmund, and stepson Charles House . (Abigail O'Flyng's son by a previous
marriage .)
J
aged
IFZ4~1 ~V
,
s ~ yeah
state of ~'
born in
~p
feet
96
. If
inches high of
L~
r~
complexion &tu .4yes, Gt~e4 #+ hair, and by profession a
do
hereby acknowledge to have this day voluntarily enlisted as a soldier is the army of the
United States of America, for the period of five years, unless sooner discharged by proper
authority : do also agree to accept such bounty, pay, rations, and clothing as is, or mar
be established by law. And I
do
solemnly swear, that I will bear tje faith and allegiance to the United States of Ameri .
ca, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against their enemies or opposers
whomsoever ; and that I will observe and obey the orders of the President of the United
States, and the orders of the Officers appointed over me, according to the rules and articles of war.
Sworn and subscribed to,
at eglE (t,c
this
1813
day o
before me
RECEIVED of
United States army, this
J4zA,-tk
2 7
1
of the
day of
dollars, in part of my bounty for enlisting into the
181
y of the U-
oi ed States for five years .
Signed duplicate receipts.
DOLLS.
100
Witness,
6
Elijah was 21 years of age . From a copy of his enlistment papers, obtained from
the War Department, it shows him to be tall, of fair complexion, with dark eyes
and hair . He was to receive the sum of $8 .00, "in part for my bounty for enlisting
into the Army of the United States for five years ."
During the Battle of Lundy Lane, Elijah and Patrick O'Flyng Jr . served with
such distinction, they were promoted to the rank of Ensign . (This was 2nd Lieutenant - a term then in use by the Army - but is today a naval rank .)
Patrick Jr . was soon thereafter promoted to 1st Lieutenant . It was he who led
the "Forlorn" of the 23rd Infantry under the command of General Miller in a
Sortie at Fort Erie, Canada . The British forces were under General Drummond .
Fort Erie was pivotal to that Niagara Frontier for the American and British
forces . On September 17, 1814, a crucial battle was fought during a violent thunderstorm .
Hundreds of spectators had gathered on the American side of Lake Erie anxiously
waiting for news of that conflict . The rumbling of cannon fire, jagged bolts of
lightening followed by thunder and torrential rain, made it an awesome scene .
Late on that afternoon, a small boat was seen to be struggling on the storm.roAtsheidlnak horeitcapszd,nhelosurviwa edby
a human chain formed out into the water .
As that exhausted man was assisted up the beach he told of a great American
victory . Casualties were heavy ; the American forces with 511 dead and wounded .
The British lost 800 men .
During that successful siege of Fort Erie, Elijah O'Flyng received such a severe
wound that he expired the following day on September 18, 1814 .
F
According to records of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, he was
buried in the cemetery on Ellicott Creek Road, where soldiers of the War of 1812
were interred on the Reservation near Williamsville . Since all records of that
military cemetery were destroyed by fire years ago, the exact spot of his grave is
unknown . (He died leaving no wife or child .)
Edmund O'Flyng had enlisted at age 15 and with his brothers fought so
bravely in the Battle of Lundy Lane, he was awarded an appointment to West
Point . Edmund decided to become a minister instead, and obtained 160 acres of
Bounty Grant Land in Bucyrus, Ohio . He died there on May 23, 1873 .
7
Patrick O'Flyng Jr . had been wounded at Fort Erie and as a result of it he
died in February 1816 . Patrick O'Flyng Sr ., for his long years of meritorious army
service, received Bounty Grant Land in Madison County, Illinois . That proud old
soldier died there at age 71 on October 7, 1822 .
Batteries O'Flyng and Allen at Fort Canby were dismantled in the early 1940's .
All through those years since 1906 when they were installed to guard the North
Portal of the Columbia River, they had never fired a hostile shot .
Fort Canby State Park now includes the site of the Battery Harvey Allen . In
1976, a fine Interpretive Center was built in front of that old gun emplacement,
located just north and across a deep cove from the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse .
From the Center there is a spectacular view over the ocean .
About halfway up the road between the Coast Guard Station and the Lighthouse, a narrow trail leads off to the south through a thick brushy area . It ends
at the old Battery O'Flyng standing in a small weed-choked clearing . On the top
is a tangled mat of earth and vines and its heavy rusted iron doors stand ajar .
During late May and June, a few barn swallows dart swiftly in and out of
that dim interior where they have fashioned their compact nests of mud on the
ceiling of the old battery chambers .
Photo
by
Dr. Alcorn
8
THE WAR OF 1812
British Admiralty 2,
Vol . 1380,
pp .
367-379 .
It states : (The "PHOEBE" is to convoy the "ISAAC
TODD", annihilate any American settlements in
the region of the Columbia, etc . )
- B . C . Payette
(From the Montreal Herald, 1814) .
September 3-A United States news dispatch copied from the
Republican, Plattsburg, (U.S.A.) reads : "The Steam Boat just
arrived brings the sad intelligence that the enemy (the British)
took possession of Washington on Wednesday evening and have
destroyed the Capital, President's House and Navy Yard . Their
force from 9 to 13,000, ours 5,000 mostly militia" .
-o-o-o-
9
THE OREGON COUNTRY FROM 1811 TO 1848
Oregon Territory created in 1848
Oregon and Washington Territories upon
creation of Washington Territory in 1853
10
Washington Territory after admission
of Oregon as a State in 1859
Idaho, Montana and Wyoming Territories
were created in 1863, 1864 and 1868
it
Canby Presents Scene of Activity
Wm . K . "Ken" Inman Photo
Work on the Canby fortifications is progressing rapidly . A large force of min
is at work, and the concreting is well under way . The frame work on the north
batteries is nearly completed and the concreters are rapidly filling it in . Frames for
the south battery are being constructed and will be ready for the cement in a few
weeks .
Considerable secrecy is maintained at the works and orders are posted prohibiting
any but workmen from going up to the batteries . Orders have also been issued
cautioning the min from giving out information regarding the works .
Another large consignment of cement reached the fort last week, and there is
now a sufficient supply on hand to last for several weeks to come . A large shipment
was brought into the river by the French bark LA FONTAINE . It was unloaded
at Astoria and is now being towed on barges to the fort .
e
The fortifications at Canby and the immediate surrounding vicinity, present an
unusual scene of activity . Crews of min are engaged in frame building, cementing,
unloading the materials, mixing it and propelling it up the air line in small cars .
The other day one of these cars jumped the track, and before the engine below could
be stopped, several ties were torn from the trestle .
Plans for the installation of the mortar battery are now being devised by the
head engineers and as soon as the present works are completed, it is expected that work
on this battery will be commenced . The battery will be located in a gully, leading
to Mac Kenzie Head .
Later, new barracks and officers quarters will be erected to replace the structures
now standing . Many of these are now being utilized as quarters for the min, but
all are in a dilapidated condition .
The south battery is located close to the promontory and the other battery is
a little further to the north .
I
Another extensive improvement to be made later on is the filling in of several
acres between the islands for the formation of a parade ground .
The location is considered the best of any on the lower river, and military min
are of the opinion that Canby will be made into a first-class location before the
government is finally through with the task .
- Clipping from newspaper
dated May 4, 1905
13
MAP OF THE OLD OREGON COUNTRY .
14
Gillnet Rebellion of 1896
Threatened Columbia River War
Pacific County Operated a Gunboat
(This historical article appeared in the Aberdeen newspaper, dateline August
18, 1934, the writer is not named . The clipping is from the scrapbook kept by
Mrs . Fenton Smith, nee Byrnina M . Scott, daughter of George Scott, early pioneer
logger . She arrived in Pacific County with her father and mother, Elizabeth
Dyer Scott, from New Brunswick to Willapa in 1879 at the age of 11 . Her
brother, Captain F . G . Scott, was an early sail and steam captain on both harbors,)
The Columbia river fishermen's strike - called Thursday and settled peacefully the same day - reminded old-timers here of turbulent days on the river in
1896, when 4,000 gillnetters threatened rebellion and Pacific county boasted a
gunboat . It was in May, 38 years ago, when fishermen became inflamed against
cannerymen operating traps off the Washington shore, and sought to settle grievances
by direct action . Tom Roney, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, was
sheriff of the county. It was he who commanded the steam launch RUSTLER
when it nosed with its six-inch cannon among the gillnet fleet between Chinook
and Astoria, and patrolled with his 45-man army on the shore to impress his roughand-ready contemporaries with the dignity of the law .
No Arbitration Then
i
There were no codes of fair competition then, and no boards of arbitration .
Arguments were conducted in crude fashion, and it was not an easy matter to
settle issues involving fishing rights . A serious condition was precipitated when
fishermen climaxed a series of gear-cutting and dynamiting events by moving on
a crew of men driving piling for a fish trap on Sand point,, and set them adrift
on their barge near the bar .
The driver and barge were heading for the open ocean and possible destruction
when a launch master spotted them and towed them to safety .
15
16
The gillnetters at that time were for
families, who came up for the summer season
Most of them lived in rooming houses on
were sailing sloops, and the masts of their
viewed on the river at fishing tide .
the most part hardboiled gents, without
from the Sacramento river in California .
the Astoria waterfront . Their boats
fleet resembled a veritable forest when
Militia Ordered Out
John Morehead, Bill Whealdon and John Giesy were county commissioners
then, and W . B . Stratton, now of Seattle, was prosecuting attorney. A conference
with Sheriff Roney convinced them that the problem was too large for control
by local authorities . Mr . Roney and Mr . Stratton made the two-day trip to
Olympia to urge upon Governor John H . McGraw a movement of militia
sufficient to cope with violence, which seemed imminent . The governor ordered
out the militia .
Chinook and Ilwaco were not easily accessible from Olympia, but it seemed
the better part of valor to avoid Astoria on the customary route through Oregon .
The troops passed through Montesano, went by coach through Grays Harbor to
North Cove, by boat to Nahcotta, and moved down the peninsula over the narrow
gauge railway to Ilwaco .
Before the fishermen were suspicious of any move, troops were on hand at
Ilwaco, camped in a vacant lot opposite the Delivan hotel . Captain Adams was in
charge .
Warship in Service
Then began days of constant patrols, with hourly fear of trouble . The fishing
season lasted through July and not until the season was over could the authorities
rest .
s
The launch RUSTLER was commissioned Pacific county's first and last warship . The craft was armed with a six-inch army cannon obtained surreptitiously,
bearing a suspicious resemblance to those at Fort Canby . (The RUSTLER was
built in 1887 at Hoquiam . She was 63 feet in length, 13 .4 beam, and depth of
hold 4 . Her gross tonnage was 30 .65 ; net 15 .33 . She was registered at Astoria
as a steam screw, number 110744 .)
The little steamer carried herself proudly as it steamed among the sloops of the
fishing fleet . Exactly what would have happened if the big cannon had discharged
17
its six-inch ball was never learned, because the RUSTLER never had to brace her
little wooden sides for the concussion of her ordnance . The gillnet "navy" seethed
with plans for rebellion, but there was no outburst .
The militia could only remain two months, because of lack of funds, and
county officials obtained the loan of the guns, arming a volunteer army of 45 men .
Many old-timers recall service in Pacific County's Army .
- Used by permission from Byrnina Smith Johnson
of Pacific Beach, Washington
Barreled Them
Information reaches this city in private letters from Ilwaco and from other
sources that serious trouble has been existing in the camp for some time past which
has almost culminated in the actual mutiny of the entire force . It is asserted that
for a time they seriously considered the proposition of deliberately leaving camp and
returning to their homes .
The trouble, it is asserted, has arisen from the rigorous discipline enforced by
Captain Frank E . Adams, in command of the detachment which is made up of details
from three companies . Adams, it is said, has enforced rather more than regular army
discipline, and on occasions has slipped entirely over the line and inflicted on men
unusual and degrading punishment not warranted by the laws which govern the
regular army or the militia - in fact, of a nature which cannot be inflicted even by
the sentence of a regularly constituted general court martial .
The particular action of Captain Adams of which the loudest complaint has
been made occurred Tuesday of last week . It was simply the culmination of a series
of actions of like character which the men consider tyrannical . On that day two
of the enlisted guardsmen who were on temporary leave of absence were seen to enter
a saloon in Ilwaco. This was in direct violation of an order of the Captain, who
had prescribed regulations to cover the conduct of the men when off duty as well
as when on .
He caused the two offenders to be arrested and confined to the guardhouse .
They remained there until Sunday, when, under order of Captain Adams, they were
18
taken out and placed in empty barrels with the legend "IN DISGRACE" on each
barrel, and thus paraded through the streets of Ilwaco accompanied by a guard with
fixed bayonet .
The entire detail of men at Ilwaco became intensely indignant over this matter
and finally, through their spokesman, informed Captain Adams that unless the disgraceful exhibition was promptly stopped they would turn in the government
property in their possession and strike out for home .
Captain Adams, it is asserted, recognized that he had gone beyond the bounds
of his lawful authority and ordered the men released and the barrels with the obnoxious inscription destroyed and endeavored to snake his peace with the men .
This served temporarily to allay the trouble, but it is by no means over, and
recent communications from Ilwaco tend to show that unless Captain Adams is
relieved, serious trouble is likely to occur at any minute . In fact, the men are almost
ripe for flat mutiny .
Informally, the matter has been brought to the attention of Adjutant General
Boutelle and Governor McGraw, although neither of them has any "official" knowledge of the trouble . The matter will, however, be quietly investigated .
- from the South Bend Journal
May 29, 1896
From "Unpublished Interviews" collected for the Washington Pioneer Project
by R . W . Campbell in 1937 - 1938 :
Thomas Roney
"Olympia sent 45 men and guns and Sheriff Thomas Roney had two patrol
boats, keeping one out on duty day and night and the other at the dock, steamed up
and ready for action . This continued throughout the fishing season . The army men
did not like their captain because of his arrogant and overbearing way with them,
and finally got into trouble ; the captain was removed, and these men were then
under Sheriff Roney's supervision ."
CATHLAMET CRITERION
June, 1911
"During the fishing season a gun will be fired at the forts at the mouth of the
river Saturday evenings at 6 o'clock and Sunday evenings at the same hour to notify
the fishermen when to begin and when to stop fishing ."
19
In May of 1792, Captain Robert Gray entered the mouth of the "Great River
of the West", claiming the lands drained by it for the United States by right of
discovery, and naming it for his ship, COLUMBIA . Then, on December 20, 1803,
in the 28th year of its independence, the United States purchased the territory known
as Louisiana from Emperor Napoleon for $15,000 . Planning to unify the "United
States", including the purchased area and that claimed by Gray, President Thomas
Jefferson obtained an appropriation of $2500 from Congress, with which he outfitted
a company to survey a route to the Pacific Ocean under the command of Captains
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark .
This expedition departed from Wood River Camp, Illinois, on May 14, 1804,
and was unheard of again until it returned two years, four months, and 10 days
later, to learn it had been given up for lost . Thirty-one soldiers, with interpreters,
the Indian girl Sacajawea and her infant son, and Clark's Negro servant, York,
had travelled 7,689 miles, occupied 393 campsites, endured terrible hardships and
dangers, and had lost only one man . The original orders permitted the Captains to
use letters of credit to obtain passage by ship back to the States, and after completing
their mission at Cape Disappointment they hopefully scanned the horizon for a
glimpse of sail . Finally, after spending the winter on the south side of the Columbia,
at Fort Clatsop, they set out on foot to make their way back, arriving in September,
1806 .
An Invitation
Come, retrace the journey of the Lewis and Clark Expedition as told in the
Interpretive Center at Fort Canby State Park, near Ilwaco, Washington . Walking
down a series of ramps, visitors to the Center follow the trail through the wilderness
along the Missouri River and across the Rocky Mountains . Graphic displays use
excerpts from the Expedition's journals matched with photos and artwork of scenes
along the route,
On the lower level are examples and descriptions of articles the Expedition used,
including trade items, food, firearms and models of their boats . Here, too, visitors
will learn about the men themselves, the records they kept, and the art of wilderness
diplomacy. The Special Presentations Center located on this floor has multi-media
programs about the Expedition .
Leaving the exhibit area, the journey continues down the Snake and Columbia
Rivers, and the upper level is devoted to events at Cape Disappointment, and huge
view windows give the visitor an unobstructed vista of the mouth of the Columbia
River and the Pacific Ocean .